Buffy Summers:Code Name Slayer- Part 2 (Iron Man 2)
by Kitkat5979
Summary: One year after Buffy moved to Malibu to live with her father, she comes back to Malibu for the summer only to find more trouble than before.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the vampire slayer. And I do not own Iron Man 2 or anything in the Marvel Universe.

* * *

 **One Year Ago:**

"The truth is. I am Iron Man."

Buffy eyes widen as the press begin to go crazy, she places her hand on her forehead and sighs "Oh, dammit."

* * *

 **Present Day: Sunnydale, California**

Buffy lies awake in her bed, she shifts trying to sleep but can't shake the odd feeling she keeps having. She sighs and looks over at her boyfriend Riley currently sleeping deeply beside her. Buffy huffs before giving into the urge and climbing out of the bed.

Buffy runs through the graveyard chasing after the vampire, she jumps on an gravestone and uses the momentum to push herself upwards so she can catch the vampire. She tackles him to the ground, but the two of them are straight back up. Buffy sends a quick kick to his face, when he tries to do the same she ducks then crouches down and swings her leg out knocking him to the ground. She grabs her stake then using a side aerial kicks him in the face knocking him back down. She then quickly brings the stake down to his chest.

After killing the vampire Buffy comes back into her room and climbs back into bed. As she does Riley wraps his arms around her, she smiles softly before slowly drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Buffy is packing her stuff into her suitcase when Riley walks into the room, he walks over to her and kisses her head "What you doing?"  
Buffy raises an eyebrow "Packing. Spending the summer with my Dad. So I'm leaving the day after tomorrow."  
"Ahh, your dad. The 'superhero'."  
Buffy taps his chest as Riley laughs "It's not funny."  
"Your dad flies around in a metal suits. And they call him Iron Man."  
"Hey. Don't mock the suit." Buffy tells him "I helped design that thing."  
Riley chuckles and raises his hands in defense "Sorry. There will be no mocking of the suit. So am I at least going to be able to visit you, at your Malibu mansion home."  
Buffy raises an eyebrow "You wanna meet my dad? Don't you? You do realize going over to a man with access to many—many-many weapons of mass destruction and saying 'Hi, I'm the man currently sleeping with you daughter' Maybe not the best idea"  
Riley chuckles "Okay, when you put it that way. Makes sense. So you don't leave for a few days right?"  
Buffy smirks "Yeah, why?"  
Riley smiles before lifting her and throwing her over his shoulder as Buffy giggles.

* * *

Buffy walks into her living room when her phone rings "Hello?"  
"Hey. Buff." Tony's voice says.  
Buffy chuckles "Hey dad. What did you do?"  
"What makes you think I did something?"  
Buffy stays silent causing Tony to groan "I don't like it when you use silence against me. Your mom used to do it, it's not fair."  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Seriously, what is it? I gotta go patrol."  
"Was wondering you gonna make it to the Stark expo day after tomorrow?"  
Buffy thinks for a moment, "Not sure, why?"  
"Please, just please." He begs using a child's voice.  
Buffy chuckles "Fine. I'll try and make it in time."  
"Perfect. You know gotta feel for your friends a few months without a Summers in town, well it can suck."  
Buffy smiles "Thanks, I think. Look I gotta go. See you soon. Duty calls, it's a total drag."

* * *

Buffy punches the vampire in the face again and again, she then brings her knee up to his chest before climbing onto his back. The two struggle as he tries to throw her off. He manages to throw her to the ground but she's up in a heart beat, she punches him again and ducks his throw. She manages to kick him in the face but when she goes for a roundhouse kick he grabs her leg and lifts her above his head. He tosses her to the ground but she gets back up quickly and runs at him, wrapping her legs around his head, she twists her body bringing him to the ground, then she stakes him through the heart.

As she stands Buffy smiles at her work before walking away "Very impressive hunt." A man says from behind her "Such power."  
Buffy turns to him "That was no hunt. That was just another day on the job. Care to step up for some overtime."  
The man smiles "We're not going to fight."  
Buffy raises an eyebrow "Do you know what a slayer is?"  
"Do you?"  
Buffy smirks "Who are you?"  
"I apologize. I assumed you knew. I am Dracula."  
Buffy's eyes widen and she can't stop the smile that comes to her face "Get out."

Buffy continues to stare in shock but she is taken out of her shock when a man in a metal suit lands next to her "Dad?" Buffy says as she spots the Iron Man suit.  
Tony stands and pulls off his helmet "Hi Buff. You said slaying was a drag, figured I'd join."  
Buffy crosses her arms "We discussed this before. No man in a red and gold metal suit fighting vampires."  
Tony pouts "Oh come on."  
Buffy rolls her eyes and points at Dracula "I'm a bit busy here. With Dracula."  
Tony turns to her stunned before turning to Dracula, Tony grins "Awesome."  
Buffy turns back to Dracula "So let me get this straight. You're...Dracula, the guy, the count."  
Dracula smiles at Buffy "I am. Who is he?"  
Tony steps forward "Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, philanthropist."  
Buffy rolls her eyes again "Dad, don't talk to the fan-boy."  
Buffy turns to Dracula "Look, no offense but I've fought more than a couple...pimply, overweight vamps that called themselves Lestat."  
Dracula watches her intently "You know who I am. As I would know without question...that you are Buffy Summers."  
Tony cuts in "Technically Buffy Anne Summers Stark."  
Dracula turns to Tony "Quiet." Suddenly Tony closes his mouth.  
Buffy smirks "Okay. Cool you gotta teach me that. So you've heard of me."  
Dracula nods as he begins to circle her "Naturally, you are known throughout the world."  
Buffy blushes "Nan. Really?"  
"Why else would I come here? For the sun? I came to meet the renowned killer."  
"Yeah, I prefer the term slayer you know, killer just sounds so—"  
"Naked?"  
Buffy stares at him slightly creeped out "Like I paint clowns or something. I'm the good guy, remember?"  
"Perhaps, but your power is rooted in darkness. You must feel it."  
Buffy looks away for a second thinking "No. You know what I feel? Bored."  
Buffy moved forward to stake him but he disappears in a poof of smoke "Okay, that's cheating."

"Hey, Buffy, what's up?" Xander asks as he and Willow walk over. "Wait, why is your dad here. And in that awesome suit."  
"Because's he's an moron." Buffy turns to Tony "Can you move yet?"  
Tony nods "Yep. Where is he?"  
"Where's who Mr. Stark?" Willow asks as Xander continues to stare at the suit mesmerised.  
"Get out of here. Now." Buffy tells them "And take my father with you please."  
"Hey!" Tony yells "That's not fair, I wanna kick a little Dracula ass too."  
"Dracula?" Xander and Willow ask confused.  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Behind you." She says as Dracula materialises behind them.  
"I have no interest in you." Dracula tells them "Leave us."  
Xander backs away so he's behind Buffy "Sorry man didn't mean to interrupt."  
"This is not the time." Dracula says his focus still on Buffy "I will see you soon."  
Suddenly Dracula turns to a bat and disappears.  
Tony turns to Buffy "I think I prefer your world. It's awesome."

* * *

After dropping the suit off at the house, Tony and Buffy are heading to Giles' house. "Wait, a half man slash half robot slash part demon thing. Named Adam?" Tony asks stunned at what he had just learned his daughter had dealt with in her first year of college. Buffy nods "Yep."  
"And the girl you stabbed came out of her coma and stole your body?"  
Buffy nods "Yep, yep and yep. Oh and a vampire named Spike, had a government chip put in his head, which makes him nothing more than a harmless puppy."  
Tony laughs "We've gotta start spending more time here, seriously this place is awesome."  
Buffy stops in front of him and shakes her head "No, no, no and no. Did I mention no. Look I would actual like the last living member of my family to live. Which means little Sunnydale for you."  
"But—" Tony tries to argue but Buffy cuts him off.  
"No."  
"But I think—"  
"Dad, no."  
Tony pouts "Fine. So do I finally get to see your little Scooby gang in action?"  
Buffy chuckles "Sure. But my rule about patrolling still stands and while your here, try not to draw a lot of attention."  
"Will try. So do I get to meet the boyfriend?"  
Buffy shuts her eyes and groans "Bad day. Bad Bad day."

* * *

"Mr. Stark." Giles says as Tony and Buffy enter his house "It's good to see you again."  
Tony nods "You as well geefs, so this is the Scooby gang." Tony says looking around at the small group of people "So which one of you is the boyfriend. Let me guess, the tall one." Tony says gesturing to Riley.  
Riley walks over to him nervously "Mr. Stark, It's a pleasure."  
Tony inspects Riley "You're not dead are you?"  
Riley shakes his head "No I can assure you, I'm very much alive. Human and alive."  
Tony nods "Good." He turns to Buffy "I approve. But tall man boy, there will be no groping of the daughter, touching or kissing while I'm around or I will put my suit back on as blast your ass to Timbuktu. I'll send you straight to an early grave if you hurt her."  
"Dad!" Buffy exclaims, before slapping the back of his head "Be nice." She hisses "Or I'll call Pepper and tell her your skipping the set up for the expo so you can hang out on the Hellmouth."  
Tony's eyes widen in fear and he turns to her "You wouldn't."  
Buffy smirks "Oh, I so would."


	2. Chapter 2

"And Buffy's all, 'Look out!' and then friggin' Dracula's standing right behind us." Xander informs the group excitedly.  
"And then..." Willow carries on "He lunges at us, like, whoosh!"  
"He's shorter than I expected." Tony says "Kinda like Happy. You'd expect that man too be real tall, he's not. And how the hell has he not heard of me? Do vampires live under a rock."  
Buffy shrugs "Depends on the vampire." Buffy turns to Giles "I told you he's heard of me. I mean, can you believe that? Count famous heard of me."  
"I couldn't believe it the first 20 times you told us, but it's starting to sink in now." Riley says.  
"Buzzkill." Tony mutters.  
Buffy turns to Riley "I'm sorry. Am I repeat-o girl? I was just...blown away."  
"It's not that surprising that he's heard of you, Buffy." Riley points out "You are The Slayer."  
"I guess. It was just the way he said it, you know. I mean, he made it sound so—"  
"Sexy?" Willow asks as she day dreams "I bet he made it sound sexy."  
Buffy smiles "Kinda. He of the dark penetrating eyes and lilty accent."  
Tony turns to Buffy "No. Father in the room, I may be cool but that's just wrong. I don't wanna hear that."  
Buffy raises an eyebrow "Oh, cause watching you try and fail with Pepper is always the highlight of my day."  
"Hey—"

Buffy is drawn back to the group when she hears Anya knew Dracula "Well, we hung out a few times." Anya explains to the now jealous Xander "Back in my demon days. You know, once or twice. He's pretty cool." Anya sighs "You know, from a whole evil-thing perspective."  
"Please." Xander scoffs "He was no big whoop."  
Tony chuckles "Please, you man boy were ready to bow at the bat's feet."  
Xander turns to Buffy "Why exactly did you bring your dad to the scooby meeting?"  
Buffy sighs "Cause if I leave him alone he's gonna end up getting himself killed. The only reason he survives when I'm at school is because he has Pepper and Happy to keep him alive."  
Buffy turns to Giles "But he did turn into a bat, it was pretty awesome."  
Giles smiles "I'm sure it was. I'm sorry I missed that."  
"Me too." Willow says rather loudly "The whole time I was thinking,'Gosh, I wish Giles were here. He'd know what to do.' Didn't you guys...think that?"  
"Actually, I was more thinking, 'bat!'." Buffy says.

"How come he can do that?" Xander asks.  
"I have no idea." Giles says as he cleans his glasses "There's a great deal of myth about Dracula. I imagine the trick to defeating him...lies in separating the fact from fiction."  
"Great point!" Willow exclaims "That is so Giles...To think of something like that, you know? That—that we would have never—"  
Tony leans towards Buffy "Is she having a stroke?" He whispers "Or is she just always like that?"  
Buffy glares at him "Your not funny."  
"Oh, I know I'm funny."  
Buffy rolls her eyes and turns to Giles "So we should take things slow with Dracula. I mean, he said that we would meet again, but I would like to avoid that...until we do some serious homework."  
"I don't know." Riley says "I mean, he may have a bunch of swell party tricks, but he's still just a vampire. I saw we load up with stakes and crossbows and go after him now."  
Tony turns to Riley "Did you really just say swell, were you born in the 40's and..." Tony turns to Buffy "What about the bo-staff slash battle staves, are you not using it."  
Buffy groans "Bo-staff with arc reactor technology that can be split in two and used as battle staves, not exactly workable for vamps. So still old fashioned."  
Xander turns to Buffy "Wait bo-staff? Are you telling me you have some awesome new weapon we haven't seen."  
Tony answers for her "Yep, she has a suit as well. With a mask."  
Xander grins "Buffy the superhero. Awesome."  
Buffy shakes her head "No. No superhero Buffy. And it's not a mask it's sunglasses which also happen to be night vision goggles. And can we please get back to the whole Dracula thing."

"Buffy's right." Anya says "Dracula's too slick to fall for the usual stuff."  
"So we hold off." Buffy says to Riley "No killing until we know exactly what we're dealing with."  
"You're not just saying that because of those dark, penetrating eyes of his, are you?" Riley asks slightly jokey but nervous at the same time.  
Buffy stands and walks over to her boyfriend "No, his eyes were—they were—there was no penetration. Cross my heart."  
Tony groans "If I promise to make sure you don't run into any women at the house in the morning, will you never say that it front of me again."  
"Deal." Buffy says.

All of them turn to Giles "All right. Um, Willow, you and Tara find out everything you can...about the actual legend of Vlad the Impalare on the internet, and, uh, I'll check the library."  
Tony turns to Willow "I can give you access to Jarvis for a while, he'll help you."  
Willow grins excitedly "Really? Oh, my god. Thank you. I can't believe it. I get to work with one of the best software programs on the planet." Willow jumps a little in her seat causing everyone to laugh.  
"If the Initiative was still around, we'd be able to find everything on this guy in a few hours." Riley says.  
Tony turns to Riley "Please. A few hours? I give red half hour with Jarvis, and she'll have everything on him and still have time to shop."  
Buffy chuckles and turns to her friends "We'll reconvene here in the morning."

As they all begin to leave Riley turns to Buffy "What's your plan?"  
"Big sleep. My count encounter and father problem wiped me out."  
"I'm kind of wired." Riley says.  
"You better no be implying what I think you're implying." Tony says as he stands with  
Giles.  
Buffy groans "Yeah. I'm gonna have to see you in the morning, before he starts threatening to send me to a nunnery again."  
"Morning." Riley agrees "With donuts."  
Buffy smiles "Mmm. Heaven." She leans up and kisses him softly "See? A little sugar and I'm all yours. Dracula smacula."  
Suddenly Buffy is pulled away "Nope. Bye bye tall man boy. No Buffy for you." Tony says as he pulls her to the door.

* * *

The next morning Buffy stares at the new bite mark on her neck, that Dracula had given her the night before. Buffy sighs and grabs the scarf on her table and quickly puts it on covering the scar.

Buffy walks down the hall but freezes when she walks past her mother's art studio. Buffy hesitates but slowly walks into the room, suddenly for a slip second a purple bedroom appears in Buffy's mind. Buffy closes her eyes and shakes her head . When she opens her eyes again she is standing in her mother art studio again. Buffy sighs "I'm going insane."  
"Buff-you coming?" Tony calls from downstairs.  
Buffy slowly backs out of the room and heads down the stairs.  
"You ready?"  
Buffy raises an eyebrow "You sure wanna come? I mean it's gonna be boring, research etcetera."  
Tony shakes his head "Funny. You're not getting rid of me that easily."

* * *

"Here's a jelly one. You want it?" Riley asks as he holds the donut in front of Buffy's face she grinds her face is disgust "No."  
Tony clicks his fingers at Riley "You want me to like you kid, give me that donut before I have to go get my suit and blast your hand off for it."  
Riley nods quickly at Tony and hands him the donut "See your learning. Happy father, happy life."  
"Mine, Mine." Xander yells coming into the room only to spot the jelly in Tony's hand, Xander pouts "Damn billionaire." He mutters under his breath.  
"Well, I think we have Dracula factoids." Willow says.  
"Like any of that's enough to fight the dark master." Xander tells them.  
Everyone in the room turns towards Xander "Someone's whipped." Tony says.  
"Bator." Xander says.

Everyone looks away from him and goes back to focusing on Willow who carries on "A lot of it we already knew. Turnoffs: Wood, fire, crosses, Garlic. Turn-ons: Nice duds, minions, long slow bites that last for days. There not much computer wise."  
"Yeah, I did a little research too." Riley tells the group "Dracula likes to live in Style. Which means we can rule out the usual dumps vampires haunt."  
"Ahh, but he's smart enough to figure that we already know that." Xander points out "I'm guessin' he's layin' low."  
"Actually," Willow says "My research backs Riley up. Drac isn't the lay-low type."  
"So we can check out the nicer places." Giles suggests.  
Tony turns to Buffy "You know I could do that in ten if you let me wear the suit."  
When Buffy doesn't answer he shakes her "Buffy?"  
Buffy looks up and shakes her head and points a finger at him "You will not be doing any Iron manning stuff. My town my rules. But if it will keep you out of danger go inspect the swanky places with the guys. During daylight." Buffy looks over at Giles "What else did you guys get?"  
Giles smiles "Well, Willow has most of it, actually."  
Willow sits up straight away "Only because you gave me super pointers. I never would have—"  
Giles raises a hand, cutting her off "Just...go ahead, Willow."

"Okay. Dracula's modus operandi...is different from other vampires. He will kill just to feed, but he's rather have a connection with his victims, and he has all of these mental powers to draw them in. He—he can read and control minds...and appear in dreams."  
"Uh-huh." Buffy agrees while deep in thought.  
"Makes sense. That stare—He just kinda looked right through you. Didn't you feel it, Buffy?"  
Buffy shakes her head slowly "No. No, I didn't." She then stands from her seat and begins to pace.  
"See?" Xander says to the group "Buffy didn't feel it. I think you're drawing a lot of crazy conclusions about the unholy prince! Bator."  
"The point is..." Giles says "Though he goes through the motions of an intimate seductions, the end result is the same—he turns them into a vampire."  
Tony smiles "This is so much better than board meetings. I gotta start spending more time here."  
"Dad." Buffy hisses.  
"Well, that is intimate." Xander says drawing everyone's attention "Dracula's gifting  
these ladies with his own blood and blood—blood is life. According to them."

Everyone gives Xander an odd look before turning back to Giles "Uh, just be aware that he tends to form a relationship with his prey. It's not enough for him to take her. She must want to be taken. She must, uh, burn for him."  
Buffy begins to panic "That's interesting. I'm gonna go find him." She says before heading for the door.  
Riley goes after her "You shouldn't go by yourself, Buffy. This guy's seriously dangerous."  
Tony nods "I kinda agree with G.I JOE here."  
Buffy shrugs "It's cool. I got it." She says before exiting to the room.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony and the rest of the Scoobies follow after Riley who had chased after Buffy. Tony's eyes widen when he sees the bite mark on her neck "Tell me that's some kind of crazy make up thing, I will never understand."  
Buffy shakes her head and goes to sit buy the fountain, running her fingers through her hair.  
"Why didn't she say anything?" Giles asks.  
"Cause she didn't want to worry us, right, Buffster?" Xander asks "It's nothin'. Just a scratch."  
"Two deep, puncture-y scratches." Willow says.  
Buffy sighs "I'm not sure why I tried to hide it. Uh, there was just this voice, and it was telling me to cover it."  
Riley nods "And what did I tell you? That's thrall."  
Tony shakes his head "Nope. Stark minds are too strong for mind control, are you on medication?"  
Buffy's eyes widen "Seriously? No!"  
Tony sighs "Fine. Mind control it is."  
"How did he even get in the house?" Willow asks.  
Buffy shrugs "I don't know, I mean I didn't invite him in and the only other person who—"  
Everyone turns to face Tony. Tony groans "Okay. Partially my fault. I thought it was a dream."  
"Moron." Buffy mutters while Riley begins to plan "Well you are not going anywhere near him."  
Buffy sighs "Well, thanks to dumbass here he can get in the house."  
"You can stay at my home." Xander rushes out the offer.  
Giles nods "Good. Riley and I can search for Dracula. Mr. Stark could join us, I'm sure if anyone knows about mansions and places it would be him."

* * *

Tony after managing to ditch Riley and Giles gets back to the house and goes up the stairs. In the bedroom is the Mark 42. He quickly suits up and flies out of the ceiling leaving a gaping hole in the wall "Shit." He mutters.

* * *

Tony tracks Buffy's location using the tracer he put in her phone and find the mansion, "Jarvis, where is she?"  
"West wing sir."  
Tony flies around the mansion then flies through the window just as Dracula punches Buffy causing her to fly back and land on the table in the center of the room. "Buffy!" Tony yells, he then turns on Dracula he raises his hand and let's out a burst of energy at the vampire causing him to fly across the room.

Buffy stands from the table and goes over to Tony "What the hell are you doing here? You were supposed to stay with Riley and Giles."  
"Not gonna happen. They're boring."  
The two of them turn back to Dracula as he stands, Buffy turns to Tony "I have to do this alone."  
Tony pouts "Fine. But can I watch?"  
Buffy chuckles "Knock yourself out."

Buffy then runs at Dracula and tackles him back to the ground. The two of them struggle and Dracula manages to get on top, Buffy punches him in the face then grabs him by the shoulder and rolls backwards taking him with her. When she lands on top she punches him again, when she goes to hit him again he catches her fist and throws her away. Buffy jumps at him again but he kicks her sending her crashing into the wall, he then grabs her and flips her onto the table. Buffy rolls of the table and grabs a chair, as Drac jumps on the table she swings the chair knocking him onto his back, she then grabs the flaming torch off the wall and swings it trying to hit him, but he quickly rolls off the table.  
"A guy like you should think about going electric. Seriously." Buffy says.

Suddenly Dracula morphs into smoke again, Buffy looks around and notices him begin to reappear far away from her. Buffy runs and grabs her stake "Give me a boost!" She tells Tony, Tony nods and flies over and grabs her hand swinging her up into the sky. Buffy flips through the air and lands right by the smoke. Just as Dracula re-appears she drives the stake through his heart "How do you like my darkness now?" She pulls the stake out and Dracula falls to side before turning to dust.

Buffy makes her way down the stairs over to Tony "Now that was badass." He says "Can we do it again?"  
Buffy chuckles "Not if I can help it."  
"Buffy?" Riley calls as him and Giles run into the room "Are you okay?"  
"Yeah."  
"Where's the creep that turned me into his spider-eating man-bitch?" Xander demands as he runs into the room.  
"He's gone." Buffy tells him.  
"All dusty." Tony says "It was awesome."  
"Damn it!" Xander exclaims "You know what? I'm sick of this crap. I'm sick of being the guy who eats insects and gets the funny syphilis. As of this moment, it's over. I'm finished being everybody's butt monkey."  
Tony pulls off his helmet to stare at Xander "Syphilis. Seriously? What did I miss?"  
Buffy chuckles "Let's just say I got lot more story's to spill. And Xander got lucky, he didn't have to start planning a wedding with Spike."  
"Wait? What!?"  
Buffy groans at the memory "That we will speak of over my dead body." Buffy turns to Xander "Check. No more Butt monkey."  
"It could have been worse." Riley tells him "At least you weren't making time with the Dracu-babes like Giles."  
"That was not making time." Giles argues "i—I was just about to kill those loathsome creatures...when Riley interrupted me." He says as he pulls his torn shirt closer.  
"Really? You were gonna nuzzle 'em to death?"  
"Of course not. I was in complete..."  
Tony taps Giles shoulder "Don't worry jeeves. I'm sure you were, after a little play time of course."  
Giles sighs "Bloody Hell." The group of them the exit the room.

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" Buffy asks Giles as she enters his home.  
"Yes. Thanks for coming. I know your leaving in a few hours, but there is something I need to discuss with you. May I offer you some tea?"  
Buffy gives him a smile ""No, thanks. Ooh, cookies." She says as she spots the cookies on the table by the couch "How come I rate little cookie treatment?"  
"Well, actually I have something to tell you." Giles say as he takes a seat next to her.  
Buffy nods "Actually, I have something that i'd like to talk to you about too."  
"Well, you go first, by all means."  
"No, go ahead."  
"No, I insist." Giles tells her.  
Buffy hesitates "You haven't been my watcher for a while. I haven't been training, and I haven't really needed to come to you for help."  
"I agree." Giles says sadly.  
Buffy stands and begins to pace "And then this whole thing with Dracula—it made me face up to some stuff. Ever since we did that spell...where we called on the first slayer, I've been going out a lot. Every night."  
"Patrolling?"  
Buffy shakes her head "Hunting. That's what Dracula called it, and he was right. He understood my power better than i do. He saw darkness in it. I need to know more...about where i come from, about the other slayers. Maybe if I can learn to control this thing, i could be stronger, i could be better. But I'm scared. I know it's gonna be hard, especially with me going back to Malibu and being in the public eye again. But even then i can't do it...without you. I need your help. I need you to be my watcher again."

Buffy sighs, before smiling "Boy, I just—i just keep talking, don't I? Turning into my father. I'm sorry. You—You had something you wanted to say."  
Giles smiles "No. No, it's nothing."

* * *

Buffy walks into the house where she sees Tony and Happy carrying stuff down the stairs "Hey Happy." Buffy says.  
"Hey Buff." He says with a smile before giving her a hug.  
Tony turns to Buffy "Super strength girl, go grab the rest of your stuff."  
Buffy laughs "Too heavy for you?"  
Tony glares at her "Shut it."  
"By the way you're fixing the ceiling."  
Tony groans "It wasn't my fault...Okay maybe it was. Fine. I'll send a guy later."

Buffy chuckles before heading up the stairs. As she enters her room she freezes, as there going through her things is a 14 year old brunette girl "What are you doing here?" Buffy demands.  
The girl turns and glares at her but before she can say anything Tony comes into the room "Buff you ready?" He asks before spotting Dawn "Hey Dawn."  
Dawn smiles "Hi Mr. Stark."  
"So where's your dad?" Tony asks.  
Dawn shrugs "Somewhere. He's not exactly thrilled with having to come down here, now that Buffy's taking off for three months."  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Get out of my room Dawn."  
"Why? It's not like your gonna be using it."  
"Because it's still my room now get out, so I can get my stuff and go."  
Dawn huffs and walks off.

"What's with you sister?" tony asks.  
Buffy shrugs as she grabs her stuff "Half sister and who knows, she always has some problem."  
Buffy grabs her final bag and her and Tony head out the room, as she closes her bedroom door, she locks the door before walking over to Dawn's room "See ya. Soon."  
"Whatever." Dawn says before going back to writing in her diary.  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Fine."  
Buffy turns to Tony "Let's get out of here."


	4. Chapter 4

**Stark Expo – Flushing, New York**

Buffy rolls her eyes as she watches the opening of the expo from back stage "My god the moron's getting more full of himself." Buffy mutters as she sees Tony fly onto the stage of half naked dancing women in the iron man suit.  
Once he's out of the suit Buffy listens as he speaks "I'm not saying that the world is enjoying it's longest period of uninterrupted peace in years because of me." The crowd cheers "Oh brother." Buffy says as she rolls her eyes.  
"I'm not saying that from the ashes of captivity, never has a greater phoenix metaphor been personified in human history."  
Buffy chuckles "Oh, please."  
"I'm not saying that Uncle Same can kick back on a lawn chair, sipping on an iced tea because I haven't come across anyone who's man enough to go toe-to-toe with me on my best day."  
Buffy rolls her eyes again "I should have let Dracula eat him."

The crowd cheers again as Tony carries on "Please, it's not about me. It's not about you. It's not even about us. It's about legacy. It's about what we choose to leave behind for future generations. And that's why for the next year and for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest men and women of the nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future. It's not about us. Therefore, what I'm saying, if I'm saying anything, is welcome back to the Stark Expo."  
The crowd cheers again while Buffy just shakes her head "Dumbass."  
"And now, making a special guest appearance from the great beyond to tell you what it's all about, please welcome my father, Howard."

"Hey." Buffy says as she walks over to Tony as he comes off the stage. Tony looks up and smiles at her quickly slipping the blood toxicity monitor back into his pocket.  
"Hey, Buff. What you think?"  
Buffy raises an eyebrow "Really? Well it's over the top with the dancers and your crazy speech...it's very you."  
"Thank you very much." Tony says with a little bow.  
Buffy looks over his shoulder to the screen on the stage "So that's gramps huh?"  
Tony turns to look as well "That's him. Good old Dad."  
Tony stares at the image intently "You ok?" Buffy asks slightly worried.  
Tony turns to her and nods "Yeah. Fine."  
"Guy come on." Happy says as he walks over to them "We gotta go."

* * *

Happy leads the two of them to the back door, right before opening it he turns to them "All right, it's a zoo out there, watch out. Open up, let's go." He says to the guard who opens the door.

"Hey! Nice to see you." Tony says to the people inside as him and Buffy enter the room. Happy continues to try to lead them through the mess, but Tony continues to stop causing Buffy to have to drag them out.

When they finally get out of the building Buffy sighs relieved "Thank god."  
"Come on Tony, Buffy. Let's go." Happy says.  
"Very mellow" Tony says.  
Happy nods "Wasn't that bad."  
"No, it was perfect. What'd you think Buff?"  
Buffy rolls her eyes "I think crowds like that make me miss college. At least they leave me alone there."  
"Oh, come on that's no way to live when you're a Stark."  
"Also a Summers that mellow me out."  
Happy turns to them both "Look what we got here, the new model." Buffy turns to look at the car only to spot a red haired woman leaning against it.  
"Hey, does she come with the car?" Tony asks.  
"I certainly hope so." He responds.  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Pigs." She then turns to Happy "Please tell me you have a backup ride for me."  
Happy nods "Always do Buffy."  
Buffy sighs relieved.

"Hi." Tony says to the woman as they walk over to the car.  
"Hi." She says back.  
Tony smiles at her "And you are?"  
"Marshal."  
Tony shakes her hand "Irish. I like it."  
"Pleased to meet you, Tony."  
Tony looks over at Happy "I'm on the wheel. Do you mind?"  
Buffy turns to him "I do. You drive like a maniac."  
"What and you don't?" Tony says before turning back to the redhead "Where you from?"  
"Bedford." She tell him.  
Tony nods "What you doing here?" He asks as he walks over to her.  
"Look for you." She explains.  
"Yeah? You found me. Buffy get in the car."

Buffy jumps into the car while Tony climbs into the driver's seat. Tony looks up at the redhead "What are you up to later?"  
Buffy groans "Kill me now." She tells Happy who chuckles.  
"Serving subpoenas." Buffy hears the woman say "Crap." She mutters as Tony says "Yikes." Buffy leans over and takes the piece of paper out of the woman's hand "Apparently he doesn't like to be handed things. It's a new problem."  
Tony nods "Yeah, I have a peeve."  
Buffy hands it over to Happy "I got it." He assures the woman.  
The woman turns to Tony "You are hereby ordered to appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow morning at 9.00 a.m. The committee also requests that your daughter attends, due to her involvement."  
"Can I see a badge?"  
"You wanna see the badge?"  
Happy nods "He likes the badge."  
The woman smiles and holds up the badge "You still like it?"  
Tony nods "Yep."

Tony starts the engine "How far are we from D.C?" He asks Happy.  
"Bout 250 miles." Buffy answers.  
Tony nods before putting the car in drive. The moment the woman is out of sight Buffy turns to Tony and slaps his arm "What the hell did you do?"  
Tony shakes his head "Nothing. Now what is with the hitting?"

"I've already dealt with the government too much for one year. Working and almost being killed at the Initiative despite what you think was not fun. Not really big on going in front of another batch of government tools."  
Tony shrugs "Oh come on, might be fun."


	5. Chapter 5

**Washington, D.C.**

"Mr Stark, could we pick up now where we left off? Mr Stark. Please." Senator Stern asks trying to draw Tony's attention from Pepper.  
The Senator sighs "Ms. Stark if you could please control your father."  
Buffy smiles tightly "Of course." She says before hitting Tony's arm "Dad." She hisses.  
"What?" Tony asks as he turns to her.  
"Pay attention you idiot." Buffy whispers, she nods her head in the direction of the Senator. "Mr. Stark?" The senator repeats.  
"Yes, dear?" Tony asks as he turns to face the senator. Buffy groans and flops her face into the palm of her hand "This is not going to go well." She whispers to her self.

"Do we finally have your attention?" The senator asks Tony.  
Tony smiles "Absolutely."  
"Do you or do you not posses a specialised weapon?"  
"I do not. I do not."  
"You do not?" The senator turns to Buffy "Ms. Stark does your father posses a specialised weapon?"  
Buffy looks up "Depends who you ask."  
"Could you explain what you mean by that Ms. Stark?"  
Tony cuts in "Well, what Buff here means is that it depends on how you define the word 'weapon'."  
"The Iron Man weapon." The senator explains.  
"My device does not fit that description." Tony argues.  
The senator looks at him confused "Well...how would you describe it?"  
"I would describe it by defining it as what it is, Senator."  
"As?"  
"It's a high-tech prosthesis." The crowd begins to laugh "That is...that is...that's actually the most apt description I can make of it.  
The senator shakes he's head unamused "It's a weapon. It's a weapon Mr Stark."  
Tony interrupts "Please, if your priority was actually the well-being of the American citizen..."  
Buffy steps on her father's foot "Don't make this worse." She whispers.  
"Ow." He moans before glaring at her.

The senator continues to talk "My priority is to get the Iron Man weapon turned over to the people of the United States of American."  
Buffy turns to him "Wait, what?"  
Tony just shakes his head "Well, you can forget it. I am Iron Man. The suit and I are turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself, which is tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution, depending on what state you're in. You can't have it."  
"I'm no expert..." The senator starts but Tony cuts him off.  
"In prostitution? Of course not. You're a senator. Come on."  
Buffy groans and turns to Pepper "Help." She mouths.  
Pepper shakes her head "I don't know." She mouths back.  
"I am no expert in weapons but.." The senator clarifies "We have somebody here who is an expert on weapons. I'd now like to call Justin Hammer, out current primary weapons contractor."  
Buffy groans "Great, the pig."  
Tony chuckles before turning back to the senator "Let the record reflect that I observed Mr Hammer entering the chamber, and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance."

Hammer chuckles as the crowd whispers. Hammer looks over at Tony "Absolutely. I'm no expert. I defer to you, Anthony. You're the wonder boy. And the stunning Ms Summers Stark is rather an expert as well I believe, having helped you build the weapon."  
Buffy rolls her eyes while Tony glares at him. "Senator, if I may..." Hammer goes on "I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad, Ms Summers' Grandad. Howard Stark. Really a father to us all, and to the military-industrial age. Let's just be clear. He was no flower child. He was a lion."  
"What would happen if I castrate him?" Buffy whispers to Tony.  
Tony chuckles "I will double your trust fund."  
Buffy chuckles quietly before turning back to Hammer "We all know why we're here. In the last six months, Anthony Stark and Buffy Summers Stark..." Hammond pauses and turns to the croud "Yes that is her really name." The crowd chuckles while Buffy clenches her fist "I'm gonna beat him till he bleeds." She mutters.

Tony chuckles before going back to listening "They have created a sword with untold possibilities. And yet Mr. Stark insists it's a shield. He asks us to trust him and we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted, Anthony. I really do. I'd love to leave my door unlocked when I leave the house, but this ain't Canada. You know, we live in a world of grave threats. You know, we live in a world of grave threats, threats that Mr Stark will not always be able to foresee. Thank you. God bless Iron Man. God bless America." Hammer says before moving back to his seat.  
"That is well said, Mr Hammer." The senator tell him "The committee would now like to invite Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes to the chamber."  
"Rhodey?" Buffy and Tony say confused before turning to see Rhodey enter the chamber.|Tony turns to Buffy "Did you know?"  
Buffy shakes her head "How am I supposed to know what conversations Rhodey has. I'm not a mind reader."

The two stand and make their way over to Rhodey "Hey, buddy." Tony says "I didn't expect to see you here."  
"Hi Rhodey." Buffy says with a smile. Rhodey turns to her and smiles "Hey kid." He then turns back to Tony "Look, it's me. I'm here. Deal with it. Let's move on."  
The three start to make there was back to their seats "I just..." Tony tries but Buffy cuts him off "Just drop it, dumbass."  
Buffy gives him a pointed look causing him to nod quickly "All right, I'll drop it."  
Rhodey looks over at Buffy "You gotta teach me how you do that."  
Buffy chuckles "What and lose my only way to get peace and quiet? No way."

"I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man weapon..." The senator says as the three take their seats "...compiled by Colonel Rhodes. And, Colonel, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?"  
Rhodey interjects "You're requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?"  
"Yes, Sir."  
"It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner."  
The senator cuts him off "I understand. A lot of things have changed today. So if you could just read..."  
"You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summary of my final..."  
The senator again cuts him off "Just read it, Colonel. I do. Thank you."  
Rhodey nods unhappy but does as requested "Very well. 'As he does not operate within any definable branch of government, and she has been involved of the fall of a government experiment in California..."  
Buffy interjects "No offence but that thing was doomed before I was hired. And to be honest I saved your asses."  
"Ms Stark." The senator says "That's enough. Continue Colonel."  
Rhodey nods "Iron man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests.' I did however, go on to summarise that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh the liabilities. And that it would be in our interests..."  
The senator cuts in once again "That's enough, Colonel."  
Tony looks over at Buffy "Fall of government experiment?" He whispers  
"Initiative. Big bad hunters. Use term H.S.T's. tried to kill me and released Adam."  
Tony's eyes widen "Wow."

Tony turns back to the argument and cuts in "I'm not a joiner, but I'll consider Secretary of defence, if you ask nice." The crowd laughs "We can amend the hours a little bit."  
The senator clears his throat "I'd like to go on and show, if I may, the imagery that's connected to your report."  
Rhodey interjects "I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public at this time."  
"With all due respect. Colonel, I understand. And if you could just narrate those for us, we'd be very grateful.

Buffy and Tony watch for a moment as Tony explains the attempts in other countries to recreate the suit. Buffy then slips Tony the small device in her palm, once Tony takes it his fingers fly over the screen quickly before he moves closer to Rhodey "Hold on one second, buddy." He tells Rhodey "Let me see something here."  
Tony taps the small screen as he holds it up towards the screen and hacks it "Boy, I'm good. I commandeered your screens. I need then, Time for a little transparency. Now, let's see what's really going on."  
"Ms Stark." The senator draws Buffy's attention "What is he doing?"  
Buffy smiles and shrugs "How am I supposed to know? I'm his daughter not his keeper. I can't read his mind."  
Tony draws the committees attention "If you will now direct your attention to said screens...I believe that's North Korea."  
Everyone watches as the North Korean version of the suit falls apart.  
Buffy takes the device out of Tony's hands "Iran didn't have much luck either it seems."  
She says as she brings up the video on the screen, Buffy passes the device back to tony. The two watch as Hammer runs over to the screen and desperately tries to get it to stop.

Buffy chuckles slightly as Tony goes on "No grave immediate threat here. Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game?" He asks gesturing to the screen where Hammer's prototype is now being shown. "Justin, you're on Tv. Focus up."  
As the prototype fall apart Hammer pulls the plug for the screen out of the socket.  
Buffy turns to the Hammer "So Justin how long you think it's gonna take you to make a suit that doesn't break someone's spine, my guess 20 years. At least."  
Hammer quickly runs back to his microphone "I'd like to point out that, that test pilot survived."  
"I think we're done," The senator says "I don't think there's any reason..."  
Tony interjects "The point is, you're welcome, I guess."  
Buffy sighs "Arrogant idiot." She whisper to Tony.

"Shh." Tony says to her before turning back to The Senator "Because I'm your nuclear deterrent. It's working. We're safe. America is secure. You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favour." Tony stands and turns to the crowd "I've successfully privatised world peace."  
Buffy looks over at Rhodey "I don't know." She mouths before watching her father continue to make an ass of himself.


	6. Chapter 6

**Malibu, California**

 _"May I say how refreshing it is to finally see you in a video with your clothes on, Sir._ " Buffy hears Jarvis say as she enters the garage.  
"I think we're all grateful for that. I mean ew, I'm already traumatised enough."  
Buffy looks around and noticed the new suit "Wow, you've been busy. How many do you have?"  
Tony shrugs "Not sure. But I was bored, you decided to go back to Sunnydale and told me I couldn't visit."  
Buffy chuckles "For good reason. You would've gotten yourself killed"  
Tony scoffs "I held up my own against Dracs."  
"No. You were standing around frozen then acting as a stepping stool."

Suddenly the two of them hear a crashing noise and both turn to see dummy knocking over the smoothie machine.  
"I'm not cleaning that up." Buffy tells him.  
Tony just glares at the robotic hand "I swear to God I'll dismantle you. I'll soak your motherboard. I'll turn you into a wine rack."  
Buffy chuckles "You do remember you designed him right which means...you messed up."  
Tony turns to her astonished "I-I did not. There's something wrong with his programming."  
Buffy smirks "And who created his program. Let me think...oh wait you."  
Tony glares at her "Fine you think you can fix him, go on ahead."  
"Don't mind if I do. Yo Dummy!" Buffy calls as she walks over to the robot.

As Buffy works Tony turns back to the screen "How many ounces a day of this gobbledegook am I supposed to drink?" Tony asks Jarvis quietly hoping Buffy won't hear.  
" _We are up to 80 ounces a day to counteract the symptoms, sir."_  
Tony sighs then looks back at Buffy who has her headphones in while she worked on dummy, Tony turns back to the desk and pulls out the palladium level monitor "Check palladium levels." He says as places his thumb on the small needle.  
 _"Blood toxicity, 24%."_ Jarvis monitors _"It appears that the continued use of the Iron Man Suit is accelerating your condition. May I suggest you tell the young Ms. Stark."_  
"No you may not." Tony tells him as he pulls out the arc reactor " _Another core has been depleted."_ Jarvis says.  
Tony stares at the core "God, they're running out quick." He observes as he switches out the core " _I have run simulations on every known element, and none can serve as a viable replacement for the palladium core."_ Jarvis informs him.  
 _"You are running out of both time and options."_ Jarvis says as Tony puts the arc reactor back in his chest " _Unfortunately, the device that's keeping you alive is also killing you. Miss Potts in approaching. I recommend that you inform her..."_ Tony quickly lowers his shirt "Mute." He says to the machines before he grabs the hand towel next to him and tosses it at Buffy.

Buffy who is shocked when the towel hits her in the face turns to Tony "What the hell?"  
Tony gestures towards the door "Potts."  
Buffy's eyes widen and she looks over and groans "Ooh, she looks made. This is not gonna be good."  
"Is this a joke?" Pepper asks as she enters the room, Buffy quietly tries to sneak out the room but Pepper clicks her finger "Oh, no. Buffy, stay. Sit."  
Pepper gestures for Buffy to go stand by Tony, the blonde pouts before moving over to the desk and pushing Tony up from the chair so she can sit.  
"Hey!" Tony exclaims.  
Buffy shrugs "Shh."  
The two turn back to Pepper "What are you thinking?  
"What?" Tony asks confused.  
"What are you thinking?" She repeats.  
"Hey, I'm thinking I'm busy." Tony tells her "And you're angry about something. Do you have the sniffles? I don't wanna get sick."  
Buffy looks up at Tony "Do you think she found out you went to the he—" Buffy whispers but Tony cuts in "Not possible."  
"Did you just donate..." Pepper starts still ranting.  
Tony interjects "Keep your business."  
Pepper continues as she follows Buffy and Tony around the room "...our entire modern art collection to the..."  
"Boy scouts of America." Buffy finishes "Yes. He did. I told him you would be made."  
"It's a worthwhile Organisation." Tony argues "I didn't physically check the crates but, basically, yes. And it's not 'our' collection, it's my collection. No offence."  
Buffy cuts in "Wasn't like half of it legally mine?"  
"Mine and Buffy's collection."  
"No." Pepper says "You know what? I think I'm actually entitled to say 'our' collection considering the time that I put in over 10 years curating that."  
Buffy nods in agreement with the redhead "She's got you there old man."  
Tony glares at Buffy "First of all I'm not old. And secondly..." He turns to Pepper "It was a tax write-off. I needed that."  
Pepper stares at him annoyed "You know, there's only about 8,011 things that I really need to talk to you about."

Pepper steps in front of Tony "The expo is a gigantic waste of time."  
"Kinda makes you seem like a gross perv as well..." Buffy says "With all the dancers in their underwear."  
Tony turns to her "They were wearing more flexible versions of my suit, not underwear."  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Typical. You're a pig."  
Tong ignores the comment and turns to Pepper "I need you to wear a surgical mask until you're feeling better. Is that okay?"  
"That's rude." She tells him before turning to Buffy "How's Riley?"  
Tony's eyes widen "How do you know about the boyfriend? I only know because he picked up her phone a week before she came back."  
Pepper shrugs "I took her and Riley out for lunch that time I visited."  
Tony stares at Buffy accusingly "You let Pepper visit!?"  
Buffy groans "It was just a couple times. You know move in day...my birthday."  
"Your birthday?! Are you kidding me? How comes she gets to visit and I don't."  
Buffy sighs "Well for one she doesn't run around in a flying metal suit looking for trouble and she made sure she stayed with me and didn't wander off looking for demons."  
Pepper's eyes widen and she turns to Tony "You did what?!"  
Tony flinches at the sound of her voice "It wasn't demons, it was Dracs."  
Buffy turns to Pepper "Don't worry I'm gonna make sure it doesn't happen again."

Tony smiles "Now that, that's settled can we get back to the expo. There's nothing more important to me than the expo, it's my primary point of concern. I don't know why you're..."  
"The expo is your ego gone crazy." Pepper points out.  
Buffy nods "I always knew your ego was too big for this house, I just didn't expect you to build a whole thing to celebrate it."  
"Shut it shortie."  
Buffy glares at him "I'm not short." She mumbles under her breath.  
Tony ignores them both and smiles at the Iron Man poster currently leaning against one of the machines "Wow. Look at that. That's modern art. That's going up."  
"You have got to be kidding." Pepper says annoyed.  
"He's ego is everywhere, it's like a fungus." Buffy says to Pepper.  
Tony picks up the poster "I'm gonna put this up right now. This is vital."  
"Stark is in complete disarray." Pepper tells Tony as he begins walking again "You understand that?"  
Tony shakes his head "No. Our stocks have never been higher."  
Buffy looks over at Tony "You do realise that's only from a managerial standpoint right?"  
"How'd you know that?"  
Buffy shrugs "Pepper actually likes me. So tells me things, cause I actually listen."  
Tony sighs "If it's messy let's double back."  
"Let me give you an example..." Pepper argues.  
Tony cuts her off "Let's move on to another subject.

Pepper's eyes widen as she sees what he's doing now "No, no, no, no. You are not taking down the Barnett Newman and hanging that up!"  
"I'm not taking it down. I'm juts replacing it with this. Let's see what I can get going here."  
Buffy shakes her head "Dad, haven't you learnt not to piss of the redhead yet? She could make you bankrupt in a heartbeat."  
Pepper turns back to Tony "Look my point is we have already awarded contracts to the wind farm people."  
Tony cuts in "Don't say wind farm people, I'm already feeling gassy."  
Buffy raises an eyebrow "You are a strange little man."  
Pepper just continues as though neither of them had spoken "And to the plastic plantation tree. Which was your idea, by the way. Those people are on payroll."

As the two argue Buffy's phone starts ringing "Hello?"  
"Hey it's me." Riley says.  
Buffy smiles "Hey."  
"So how was that expo thing."  
Buffy chuckles "Nothing more than a chance for my dad to show off and treat his ego."  
Buffy hears Riley chuckles "So when do you think I'm gonna see you next. I could always come up."  
"Kinda busy with everything at the moment." Buffy hears Riley sigh in disappointment "But I'll make it up to you." She assures him.  
"Really?"  
Buffy turns away from the arguing adults "Yes. There could be little outfits involved."  
"Hey!" Tony yells as he walks over to Buffy. "What are you doing and why are there little outfits involved?"  
Buffy's eyes widen "I—"  
Tony grabs the phone out of her hand "Hey!" Buffy exclaims.  
Tony holds the phone out of her reach before calling out for Jarvis "Jar, who is Buffy talking about little outfits with here."  
 _"I believe that would be Mr, Riley Finn."  
_ "Traitor." Buffy hisses.  
 _"Apologies Miss. Stark"  
_ Tony's eyes widen "Eww." He then brings the phone to his ear "Don't you dare." Buffy hisses.  
"I can't hear you, I'm too disturbed." Tony makes a disgusted face before bringing his attention back to the phone "Hello Finn. Now I would prefer it, if before I put on my suit and fly down to Sunnydale that you, stop interrupting my Buffy time. Have a good day GI JOE."  
Tony hangs up the phone and hand it back to Buffy "I can't believe you juts did that."  
"Believe it." He says before turning back to Pepper "Now back to my point. You run the company."  
Pepper's eyes widen "First of all what you just did is disgusting and horrible. And I'm trying to run the company."  
"Well, stop trying to do it and do it."

The two continue to argue and yell at each other so Buffy cuts in "Pepper, he's trying to make you the CEO."  
Pepper's face dissolves from anger to complete and utter shock, she turns to Tony "Have you been drinking?"  
Tony shrugs "Chlorophyll. I hereby irrevocably appoint you chairman and CEO of Stark Industries, effective immediately."  
Pepper just stares in shock "What about Buffy?"  
Buffy laughs "I don't see CEO-y being in my future, I'll help out from time to time, but Pepper this job it's yours. It was always yours."  
Tony smiles before grabbing the bottle of champagne that dummy hands him, he turns and hands Pepper a glass then turns to Buffy "What the hell." He shrugs before handing her a glass "You're 19, we'll be english for the day." He then turns back to Pepper "Anyway...I've actually given this a fair amount of thought, believe it or not. Doing a bit of headhunting, so to speak, trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be. One that would actually want the job unlike my actual successor. But then I realised it's you. It's always been you."  
As Tony goes on Buffy watches Pepper who was still in a state of shock "Congratulations Pep." Buffy says before silently making her way out of the room to give the two some privacy.

* * *

Buffy heads upstairs and is about to head up to her room when Jarvis' voice makes her freeze _"Miss Stark, Mr Giles is here to see you."  
_ Buffy sighs before heading for the door "Thanks, J." She calls before unlocking the door.  
 _"As always, it's much more of a pleasure dealing with you Miss. Stark, it seems as though Mr. Stark—"  
_ "Refuses to say please and thank you, yeah I know. Don't worry I'm trying to fix that. I'm gonna have Happy train him tomorrow, hopefully knock some sense into him."  
 _"Thank you Miss. Stark."  
_ Buffy smiles before pulling the door open "Hi Giles, I thought you weren't gonna be here til—"  
Buffy freezes when she spots Dawn standing next to Giles, Buffy turns to Giles "What is she doing here?"  
Giles sighs rubbing his forehead "Perhaps we could speak inside."  
Buffy groans before opening the door further "Fine."

As the two enter Dawn whistles "Wow. How is it fair that you get the rich dad?"  
Buffy just rolls her eyes and points at the couch "Sit and don't-touch-anything."  
Dawn glares at her older sister before stumping past her and flopping onto the couch, Buffy turns to Giles "Explain now. I'm supposed to have three months where I don't have to be the adult all the time. Here I have Pepper, so I at least only have to do it part time, so why did you bring her here?"  
Giles sighs "I'm sorry Buffy, unfortunately her father asked me, said he had some work to do today with his secretary and asked if I could watch her."  
Buffy groans and her face flops into her palm "Fine. The sooner we've had our training session the sooner you can take her back."

* * *

"There is nothing but you." Giles says smoothly "You are the centre. And within you, there is the core of your being, of what you are. Find it. Breathe into it. Focus inward. Let the world fall away. Fall away. Fall away."  
Buffy's eyes snap open and she pushes herself upwards into a handstand while balancing on the wooden log. Slowly she raises her left arm, keeping it as steady as possible, suddenly Buffy hears rocks falls causing her to fall painfully to the ground.  
As Buffy moans in pain Dawn's face appears above her "Are you done yet?" Buffy just glares at her, having to to keep from strangling her.  
Buffy flips herself back up "Go over there." She tells her sister, pointing to the seat in the corner "Go sit and stop distracting me."  
"It's not my fault you fell." Dawn argues.  
"Yes it is." Buffy turns to Giles "Giles—"  
Giles nods in understanding "We'll continue our training another time." Buffy gives him a smile before turning to the door and leading them out.  
"How do you even get around in this place, it's like a maze." Dawn complains as they head for the door "You know I still don't see how just because he's your dad, you're the one that gets to come here all the time. What about—"  
Buffy smiles at Giles and cuts off Dawn "I'll see you soon. Bye." She then shuts the door.

Buffy heads back into the living room when Tony see her "Hey, kid."  
Buffy doesn't answer she just grabs her self a glass of water from the kitchen, Tony walks over to her "Buff?"  
Suddenly the glass breaks in her hand "Crap!" She exclaims.  
"Whoa, you alright?" He asks as he checks her hand.  
Buffy just sighs "Okay, not alright." Tony realises "What's wrong?"  
Buffy just huffs before sitting on the couch "Dawn's dad flaked again and so Giles got stuck having to bring her here for my training session. This is supposed to be quality watcher/slayer time. And she completely ruined my training."  
Buffy sighs "Look I get it she's the baby, it's always been this way even when mum was around, she needs to be protected bla bla bla. But lately...lately it's just really bugging me."  
Tony chuckles and wraps an arm around her shoulder "Sibling rivalry, huh Buff. Look your mom loved both you and your sister and you were just as much protected."  
"Look I know all this, but she acts like being a kid is the biggest burden in the world and she just—"  
"Buff, I may not have siblings but she's irritating I'll admit that, and the girl doesn't know when to shut her trap—" Buffy chuckles "But she is your sister, so putting up with her is kind of your job." Tony pauses before whispering "Plus you have the awesome Billionaire Father."


	7. Chapter 7

"Move you're feet!" Buffy yells as she watches Tony and Happy fight in the ring "Come on Rocky!" Buffy tells Tony before chuckling.  
Tony ignores her "Stop trying to distract me kid."  
"Too late." Buffy sings, and the next thing Tony knew Happy had knocked him down to the group causing Buffy to laugh so much her stomach had began to ache.  
"The notary's here!" Pepper calls as she enters the room "Can you please come sign the transfer paperwork?"  
"I'm on Buffy and Happy time." Tony argues.  
"Yeah and he still sucks." Buffy tells Pepper before climbing into the ring she flips over Tony's head and pins his arms behind his back "Not fair." Tony says as he groans in pain "You have super strength.  
Buffy giggles before pushing him back over to Happy.

Buffy watches as Tony elbows Happy in the face "Ow." She winches.  
"Sorry." Tony mutters to Happy.  
"What the hell was that?" The bodyguard asks angrily.  
"It's called mixed martial arts. It's been around for three weeks."  
"It's called dirty boxing. There's nothing new about it."  
Buffy shrugs "What's wrong with 'dirty boxing' I use it."  
Happy turns to her "Yes but you are also trained in kung fu and karate and taekwondo plus Krav Maga." Tony tries to draw back Happy's attention "All right, put them up. Come on."  
However Happy's attention is now by the entrance, both Tony and Buffy turn to see a beautiful red headed woman.

"I promise you this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company." Pepper assures Tony drawing his attention.  
Buffy notices both Happy and Tony still staring at the red head, she rolls her eyes before slapping them both in the back of the head "Pigs, she's young enough to be your daughter."  
Tony turns to his daughter glaring at her before turning back to Happy and kicking him in the  
stomach "Buff, your turn."  
Buffy grins while Happy's face pales in fear "That's not necessary, she can already fight." Happy tries to argue but Tony is already climbing out of the ring and Buffy is already facing him.  
"I'll go easy on you." She promises "We have a guest, it's not like I can throw you through a wall at the minute.

The red head watches with interest as Buffy circles Happy and ducks at he throws his right arm out, but before he can pull it back the young blonde grabs his arm and twists it causing Happy to flip in the air before landing painfully on his back. The red head watches as Happy struggles to stand only to fall again as the blonde crouches to her knees and swings her left leg around, catching the body guard's ankles; again sending him to the ground.

"That's it." Happy moans as he stands "Bring it, kid."  
Buffy tilts her head and simply ducks every throw he aims at her. The red head smiles slightly as she watches the blonde play with the older man before finally wrapping a leg around his neck and flip herself backwards bring Happy with her. Happy crashes into the corner of the ring and the blonde stands back up quickly "You okay?" She asks.  
Happy doesn't answer he merely raises a shaky hand a gives her a thumbs up.

"That's my girl." Tony laughs as he watches Happy clutching his ribs "I thought you said you were gonna go easy on him?" Pepper asks as she looks down worried at the bodyguard.  
Buffy shrugs and flips herself in a double tuck out of the ring "That was going easy."  
She says causing Tony to nod in agreement.  
Tony then turns back to the red head "Name?"  
"Rushman. Natalie Rushman." She answers before turning back to Buffy "Rather impressive."  
Buffy smiles "Thanks. I train."  
Natalie chuckles "I can see that, je jestu?"  
"That and others. Yourself."  
"I dable."  
Tony grins "Do you know?"  
Buffy rolls her eyes as she watch stony lear at her "He's a pig." She warns Natalie.  
Tony glares at her but Buffy shrugs "I'm your daughter. I can say things like that."  
Tony just sighs before turning back to Natalie "Front and Centre. Come into the church." He says as he heads back inside the ring.  
Pepper turns to him astonished "No. You're seriously not gonna ask..."  
"If it pleases the court, which it does."  
"It's no problem." Natalie tells her.  
"I'm sorry. He's very eccentric." Pepper says as Natalie heads towards Tony.

Buffy goes to stand by Pepper "You didn't hurt him too badly did you?" Pepper whispers to the blonde slayer.  
Buffy shakes her head "He'll be fine, a couple bruises at most, he's just lucky he was wearing padding that's what Giles usually does as well."  
"Ah, yes." Pepper says as she takes a seat on the couch, Buffy does the same "I heard he was here yesterday."  
Buffy nods "Yep. Him and Dawn."  
"How was it?"  
Buffy shrugs "Couldn't be over sooner—"  
"Buffy she's your little sister."  
Buffy sighs "I know. She's the baby she needs to be protected, it was always like that, always has been even when my mom was still around. But –"  
"Pepper." Tony calls as he walks over, effectively ending their conversation.  
Pepper looks over Buffy sympathetically "We'll talk later." She assures her before looking up at Tony "What?"  
"Who is she?" He asks as he takes a seat next to his two girls.  
"She's from legal. And she is potentially a very expensive sexual harassment lawsuit if you keep ogling her like that."  
Tony pouts "I need a new assistant, boss."  
"Yes, and I've got three excellent potential candidates. They're lined up and ready to meet you."  
"I don't have time to meet. I need someone now. I feel like it's her."  
Buffy rolls her eyes "Daughter in the room." She remind him.  
Tony looks over at the blonde "What I just have this feeling, nothing wrong about it."  
Pepper and Buffy glance at each other before they both turn back to Tony "Everything is wrong with that." They say together.

"How do I spell your name, Natalie?" Tony calls as the three watch her and Happy in the ring.  
Natalie turns to them "R-U-S-H-M-A-N."  
Buffy watches as Tony brings up the hologram on the table "Are you seriously doing a background check?"  
"Don't judge missy I took down a government agency."  
Buffy glares at him "Wow." Tony says cutting off, Buffy's train of thought "Very, very impressive individual." He glances over at Pepper who was trying to speak to him "You're so predictable, you know that? She's fluent in French, Italian, Russian, Latin."  
"Who speaks latin?" Tony asks.  
"No one speaks Latin." Pepper tells him "It's a dead language."  
"Giles does." Buffy argues "Plus Jarvis tells me I mutter in Latin in my sleep, Riley said so as well."  
Tony's eyes widen at the comment and he starts to see red "And how would GI Joe know if you speak Latin in your sleep."  
Buffy rolls her eyes and turns to Pepper "Help."  
Pepper turns to Tony "You do not need that explained Tony, what Buffy does with her boyfriend is none of your business."  
Tony turns back to Buffy "We're not done here. You're boyfriends all ready got two strikes don't make it a third."  
Buffy groans in annoyance "Dumbass." She mutters as Tony turns back to the screen "Did you model in Tokyo?" He asks Pepper suddenly "Cause she modelled in Tokyo."  
"Well..." Pepper starts but Tony interjects.  
"I need her. She's got everything that I need."  
"What you need is a therapist." Buffy argues.

Buffy turns back just in time to see Natalie use a similar move she used on Happy but wrapping her leg's around his neck and bringing him to the ground "Wow!" Buffy gasps as Pepper screams "Oh, my god!"  
Tony chuckles "Two girls, in one day Happy. That's what I'm talking about." Tony says as he rings the bell.  
"I just slipped." Happy argues.  
Buffy smirks "You must be extremely clumsy, huh Happy?"  
"Looks like a TKO to me." Tony says before again ringing the bell.  
Buffy climbs into the ring and helps Happy as Tony finishes with the paper work, "Goodbye, Miss Stark." Natalie says to Buffy.  
"See ya." Buffy says as she hands Happy a water, She turns back to the man "You okay? You need to go to the hospital?"  
Happy glares at her "You're not funny."


	8. Chapter 8

**Monaco**

Buffy, Tony and Pepper head inside the party with Happy following. "You know, it's Europe." Tony reminds them.  
Buffy nods "Yeah, we're all aware of that, none of us were drinking on the plane."  
Tony turns to Buffy "Mimosas do not count. Look whatever happens in the next 20 minutes, just go with it."  
"Got with it?" Pepper asks  
"Oh and keep Hammer away from the Bufftster."  
Buffy chuckles "I see you've picked up Xander's nickname."  
Tony nods "Yeah, oh and I don't want that kid hanging around my house anymore, he's weird. Anyway, I don't like the way Hammer looks at you, like you're a prize. So if he comes up to you, feel free to you know...castrate him."

"Mr Stark?" Natalie says as she walks towards them, cutting of their castration talk "Hello. How was your flight?"  
Tony smiles "It was excellent. Boy, it's nice to see you."  
Pepper and Buffy watches confused as they take their drinks from the waiter "We have one photographer from the ACM, if you don't mind. Okay?" Natalie asks.  
Natalie takes their drinks off them and Pepper looks over at Tony "When did this happen?" She asks.  
"What? You made me do it?" He argues as he keeps the smile on his face.  
Buffy forces a smile on her face "That's not what happened."  
"She quit." He says before turning both woman towards he camera "Smile. Look right there."  
"Stop acting constipated." Tony tells Pepper.  
"Don't be a predictable jackass." Buffy mutters.  
"I should have sent you to boarding school, or military school." Tony sighs.  
Buffy just smirks "Then you would still be crashing through the ceiling in that prototype suit."  
Buffy and Pepper grab their drinks and watch as Tony attempts to flirt with the other red head.

* * *

The three of them make their way around the party and as Tony offers Pepper a massage, Buffy groans "That's my cue. Good-luck Pep." Pepper begins to panic "Buffy, no—"  
Buffy shrugs "Sorry, I need a drink. Hopefully you'll still live through this." She says before quickly making her way to the bar.

* * *

Buffy watches as Hammer and her father speak for a moment before she turns back to the bar "Can I get a white wine please?"  
"Put that on my tab." Buffy sighs before plastering a smile on her face "Hammer."  
Hammer smiles at her "Please call me Justin." He says before taking her hand a kissing it.  
Buffy forcefully removes her hand from his grasp "Thanks for the drink."  
"Anytime." He says sending her a smile.  
Buffy sighs "So what can I do for you Hammer?"  
"Well, I haven't seen you since the senate."  
Buffy takes a sip of her wine before turning to Hammer "Ah, the senate, you know I heard that you lost your contract."  
"Actually, it's on hold. But that's not what I'm hear to discuss with you."  
Buffy sighs "And why are you here then? I figured you would be pounding down my father, trying to get an invite to present something at the expo. You know I'm sure if you actually made something that worked, he would gladly give you a spot."  
Hammer chuckles "You've got your father's sense of humour I see, and here I thought you take after your mother."  
The moment the words leave his lips, the smile on Buffy's face falters "I suggest you don't mention my mother."  
Hammer seeing the look in her eyes, raises his hands in surrender "My apologies, but now to the reason I'm here, I understand you will not be taking over as CEO, so how bout you and I have dinner tomorrow night and we can talk about your future."  
Buffy slowly breaks into laughter "You want me to have dinner with you and talk about my future? Yeah, that's not gonna happen." Buffy stands purposely getting into Hammer's personal space she then kicks him in the shins "Thanks for the drink, Hammer." She says before walking off.

* * *

Buffy takes her seat at the table next to Pepper "Where did you run off to?" Pepper asks.  
Buffy groans "Hammer cornered me, asked me out to dinner to 'discuss my future'. I may have kicked him in the skins."  
Pepper laughs slightly, but covers her mouth pretending she was not "Buffy—you can't just—"  
"Kick douche bags with leering eyes?"  
Pepper opens her mouth to say yes but she changes her mind "You just can't do it when the press are around. Plus I thought Tony told you to castrate him."  
Buffy shrugs as she takes another drink "Guy brought me a drink, had to cut him some slake."  
Pepper laughs at the comment, but her attention is quickly brought to the television screen in the middle of the room, where she can now see Tony getting into the racing car.  
Buffy notices the expression on Pepper's face "Pep? What is it? What's with the worry face?"  
Pepper doesn't answer she just turns Buffy's head in the direction of the TV screen, as her eyes spot it, they widen in shock "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."  
Pepper turns to Natalie and calls her over "Natalie. Natalie!"  
"Yes Miss. Potts." Natalie answers as she quickly walks over to them.  
"Did you know about this?"  
Natalie glances over at the screen before turning back to Pepper, "This is the first that I have known of it."  
"This...this cannot happen."  
"Absolutely. I understand. How can I help you?"  
Buffy turns to Natalie "Where the Happy man?"  
"He's waiting outside."  
Pepper nods "Okay, get him. I need Happy."  
"Right away." Natalie says before running off.  
Buffy turns to Pepper "I'm gonna kill him."  
"Get in line."

The two go back to watching the screen and their eyes widen as a man walks onto the track "Oh, not good." Buffy breaths, as she sees something similar to the ark reactor on his chest.  
Both women gasp as the man uses a whip to slice the cars in half. The two turns when they spot Happy who raises two briefcases.

* * *

The three of them quickly run towards the car and hope inside "Go, go!" Pepper tells Happy the moment her and Buffy are inside the car.  
Happy then speeds the car off and tosses one of the suit cases at Buffy, Buffy looks down confused "What the hell is this?"  
"Your suit. Hang on!" He yells as they drive through a construction sight.  
Buffy grabs the case and opens it up, revealing her new suit similar to the last. Only this time there is a red glowing lining throughout the suit "What the hell?"  
"Powers up the gloves, kinda like a stunner?" Happy tells her.  
Buffy sighs "Dammit. Man can't keep anything simple." She then quickly pulls the suit out of the case and as fast as she can slips out of her blue dress and slips on the leather suit.  
The car makes a hard right sending Buffy and Pepper flying around the backseat, Buffy looks out the window and realises they were now on the racing track.  
"Wig?" Buffy asks Pepper who quickly tosses her the long black wig, Buffy slips it on and the gloves as well as the sunglasses before grabbing the stave, she disconnects it to make it into the two batons.

At the end of the track the three see Tony's car go flying through the air "Happy hurry!" Buffy tells him.  
"Give me the case!" Pepper tells Happy.  
As she takes it Buffy turns to Happy "Open the door Happy."  
"What?! Are you insane?!" Pepper and Happy yell together.

"Just do it!" Buffy yells, He hesitates for a moment before unlocking the door, the moment he does Buffy pushes the door and opens it she throws herself out and ends up rolling on the ground. She quickly gets back up ignoring the pain on her side and runs towards the metal fence, she jumps up digging her fingers into the fence then flips herself to the top. Once she is steady she runs across the top of the metal fence ignoring the gasps of people in the seats. When she spots Tony running away from the crazed man she flips herself in the air and lands behind the man, before kicking him in the back sending him flying into the wall.  
Buffy grabs the batons and puts them back together just in time to catch the whip as the man swings it at her, she spins herself around causing him to again go flying into the wall, he goes to move again but before he can Happy appears and crashes into the man with the car.

Tony turns to Buffy "Knew you would like it." He says with a grin on his face.  
Buffy glares at him "Dumbass." She mumbles.  
"Are you okay?" Happy asks.  
Tony turns his attention from his costumed daughter and turns to Happy "Were you heading for me or him?"  
"I was trying to scare him?"  
Tony points at Buffy "I think she was doing that just fine!"  
"Are you out of your mind?!" Pepper screams at the father and daughter.  
Tony leans into the window "Better security."  
"Get in the car right now!"  
"I was attacked! We need better security."  
"Just get in the car!" Buffy yells at him, causing Tony to moans before he walks to the other side of the car.  
"First vacation in two years." He mumbles as he opens the door, only to have it sliced in two by one of the whips.

Buffy watches as Happy continues to try to drive into him but it does nothing, Buffy jumps onto the car and catches the whip with the stave. She then pulls it forward causing the man to smash his head on the front of the car. Suddenly the whip swings out and Buffy is sent flying through the air.  
"Anytime now, would be great!" She calls to Tony as he puts on the suit.

"Bout damn time." Buffy says as Tony pushes the car away "You know when they're human, it makes it harder for me right?"  
"I know I know." He mumbles before firing a blast at the man, but before the blast can hit, he swings out the whip again, cutting through the suit.

Buffy flips through the air and lands in front of the man, she punches him in the face before bringing her knee to his gut. He falls to his knees and Buffy swings her foot upwards kicking him in the face, she then tosses him to Tony who slams him onto the ground before ripping out the core in the middle of his chest.

* * *

Once the cops come to collect him Buffy turns to Tony who nods at her "Go." Buffy quickly runs off the track and into the parking lot, before jumping on a motorcycle and driving off.

* * *

"It's just unbelievable. It proves that the genie is out of the bottle and this man has no idea what he's doing." Buffy watches the senator say as her and Pepper sit on the private plane "He thinks of the Iron Man weapon as a toy. I was at a hearing where Mr. Stark, in fact, was adamant that these suits can't exist anywhere else, don't exist anywhere else, never will exist anywhere else, at least for five to 10 years, and here we are in Monaco realising, 'These suits exist now.' And that they may have for some time, as a woman-who fits the description of the mysterious women rumoured to be spotted at the explosion at Stark Industries last year..."  
"Mute." Tony says as he enters the room "He should be giving me a medal. Buffy too. That's the truth."  
Buffy sighs "Dad..."  
"Nope common." He says as he places a tray in front of her.  
Buffy groans in disgust "God what is that, smells like Dawn's room."  
"This is your in-flight meal."  
Pepper raises an eyebrow "Did you just make that?"  
"Yeah." He tells them "Where do you think I've been for three hours?"  
Buffy and Pepper looks at each other and nod "Dad?" Buffy asks "You're not telling us something."

Tony looks back at them "I don't want to go home. I don't want Buff to go back to school in two months. At all. Let's cancel my birthday party and...we're in Europe. Let's go to Venice, Cipriano."  
Pepper chuckles "Remember?" Tony asks her.  
"Unfortunately." Buffy moans.  
"Oh, come on." Tony says trying to act cheerful "It's a great place to be healthy."  
Buffy looks at him confused but let's Pepper speak "I don't think this is the right time. We're in a kind of a mess."  
"Yeah, well maybe that's why it's the best time."  
Buffy watches as the two adults argue for moment and keeps a close eye on her father, as she does she can't help but get the sense that he is keeping something big from her.


	9. Chapter 9

Stark Mansion

"Thank you guys for coming up." Buffy says as she walks with Xander and Willow on the beach by her house, despite the fact she had only been back in Malibu a month and a half she missed her friends dearly, she didn't have any friends here so it was nice to have them here even if it was just for a few hours.

"No problem, Buff." Xander tells her as he continues to stare around the private, man she really was rich "Plus who wouldn't want to come to this place, you know that I'm still completely seriously about the whole being adopted by your dad thing."

Buffy chuckles slightly, more due to the fact of how serious he sounded as the words left his lips "Keep dreaming Xand. So what's happening in SunnyD?" She asks curiously she was beginning to get testy not hitting vamps every night, she really hated the press she couldn't exactly go slaying with the press following her every step in Malibu.

Willow thinks for a moment trying to think of how to start describing all the drama they had been dealing with "Well the guy who owns the magic box died."  
Buffy sighs "Jeez. Harsh. Doesn't that make like three magic box owners now?"  
"Yep." Xander tells her "Only now Giles...Well we think he's having a mid life crises. He wants to buy the magic box."

Buffy raises an eyebrow and sputters slightly library running easily frustrated with Americans Giles wanted to own a business? Had the world gone to hell and everyone had just forgotten to inform her "Giles. The magic box owner? Does he even know anything about retail?"

"Nope." Willow tells her "He thinks that being a librarian is experience enough."  
Buffy chuckles "Oh, that is so not going to go well."  
"Yep." Both of her friends say as they all laugh imagining all the trouble Giles was about to get into with that death house of a store.

As they walk Buffy hesitates before speaking again, she really didn't want to discuss her sister but she couldn't help but ask "How's Dawn?"  
"Dawn Patrol?" Xander asks happily "She's bored. Doesn't help that her dad keeps asking us all the watch her."

Buffy sighs, of course Hank was ditching out on fatherly duties, her dad was right he was such a turd "I'm not going to get a whole summer here am I? Bet max I get if a few more weeks, till he runs off with his secretary to Spain."

The three stay silent for a few moment before Xander turns to Buffy a hopeful glint in his eyes "Can I see your suit now."  
The smile falls from Buffy's face "Again, Xander. No."

* * *

A few hours after saying goodbye to her friends Buffy heads down into the garage where Tony was currently sitting in one of the cars while holograms surrounded him, it really did seem that that was his favourite spot in the whole house.  
 _"Query complete, sir."_ Jarvis tells him _"Anton Vanko was a Soviet physicist who defected to the United States in 1963."_

"Vanko?" Buffy asks as she enters the room with a curious frown on her face as her eyes continue to scan through the mass of files, taking in all the information "Let me guess he didn't stay here long. Kind of like a stick of gum, you think it's going to last but it gets dull quick."

Tony turns to his daughter as Jarvis confirms what she had said _"Quite right, Miss Stark. He was accused of espionage and was deported in 1967."_

Buffy grins before jumping into the car and sitting next to her father and nudging him playfully "Two points for the Slayer." She jokes not earning a laugh from her father like it would normally.  
She frowned in confusion before sighing and turning back to the screens trying to ignore the pang of hurt "So who's the whipper man?"

 _"His son, Ivan who is also a physicist. He was convicted of selling soviet-era weapons-grade plutonium to Pakistan, and severed 15 years in Kipeisk prison."_ Buffy and Tony watch the holograms come up blank _"No further records exist."_

At that moment Rhodey enters the garage "Tony, Buff, you guys gotta get upstairs and get on top of this situation right now. Buff, you need to make sure no one suspects you of being the girl in black and red."

Buffy sighs before pouting "I don't wanna." She moans as she glances at her uncle shaking her head at him only earning a small glare off him which makes her shrink back into the car with an annoyed expression on her face.

Tony chuckles softly before going silent again which made Buffy frown in worry, something was up with him, where was the normal sassy comeback? The daily prepared Rhodey insult?,  
Rhodey sighs and approaches the two "Listen. I've been on the phone with the National Guard all, trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door and taking these. They're gonna take your suits, Tony." He says as he walks over to the suits "They're sick of the games. You said nobody else would possess this technology for 20 years. Well, guess what? Somebody else had it yesterday."

Buffy looks over at her father, who was still oddly silent "Dad?"  
Buffy shakes her father's shoulder and she is finally able to see him properly as he turns to face her, Buffy's eyes widen as she sees how pale and ill he looked, she knew something had been off she just hadn't realised it had been this "Dad? What's wrong with you?" She asks her voice wavering in worry as she attempts to take his face in her palms so she can get a proper look at him but he just shakes her off.

Rhodey walks over at looks at him worried as well "Are you okay?"  
Tony nods "I'm fine. Let's go." He says before climbing out of the car.

As he does he topples "Dad!" Buffy yells as she quickly walks over and helps Rhodey get Tony up.  
Buffy looks at her father carefully "Something's wrong."  
"I should get to me desk." Tony says weakly.

Buffy and Rhodey nod and help him over "See that cigar box?" He asks.  
Rhodey spots it "Yeah."  
"It's palladium."

Buffy quickly gets Tony in the chair while Rhodey grabs the box, he passes it to Buffy who spots the arc reactor smoking "Tell me that some fog affect you created cause it looks cool."

"Unfortunately not. Although maybe next time." Tony says with a small laugh which only made him flinch in pain causing Buffy's eyes to widen in panic "It's neutron damage. It's from the reactor wall."

Buffy takes the reactor off him and quickly pulls out the core, Rhodey groans "You had this in your body?" He asks stunned as he sees the now burnt core "And how about the high-tech crossword puzzle on your neck?" He says gesturing to the blue lines running up along Tony's neck.

As Buffy refills the arc reactor she turns to Tony who answers "Road rash."

Buffy scoffs, she was furious he had been lying to her this entire time, something was wrong with him, she had already watched one parent die who had lied about being sick, he couldn't do this "Bullshit. Here." She says as she hands him the reactor.

Once it is back in his chest and Tony is breathing properly again, and once she is sure he is not about to die Buffy punches him in the arm "What the hell?!" Tony yells.  
"I'm not an idiot." She tells him as her eyes fill with water "I know what this means. The core isn't working anymore. You're dying...you've been lying to me."

Tony turns to his daughter, hoping to explain "Buffy, I—"  
"Don't." She tells him with a shaky voice, she glances at him one last time before leaving the room.

Rhodey watches her go for a second before turning back to Tony "Look, you wanna do this whole lone gunslinger act and it's unnecessary. You have Buffy, she has your back and so do I. You don't have to do this alone."  
Tony turns to him "Look, you gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I'm doing."  
Rhodey shakes his head "Explain that to your daughter."

* * *

Rhodey heads over to Buffy who was now outside the house, close to tears "Buff—"

"Why would he lie to me?" She asks, genuinely confused. She didn't get it she thought they had a close relationship yet he had been lying to her face for months, she takes a shaky breath and runs a hand through her hair as she keeps herself from crying. She couldn't lose him. She wouldn't survive.

Rhodey walks over to his God-Daughter and places his hands on her shoulders attempting to comfort her "Well, your dad—he's a jackass, but he does love you. Maybe in his own stupid way, he thought he was protecting you."  
Buffy scoffs "Yeah, I'm sure that's it."

"Buffy." Rhodey sighs "Look, there are very few people Tony cares about, you and your mother are at the very top of that list. After your mom died, he broke like you, he just hid it, right now, I think he's keeping this a secret so that you don't have to worry about losing another parent. He remembers what it was like right after your mom died, I think that he is trying to spare you from that, in his own twisted way."

Buffy chuckles slightly and gives Rhodey a hug, he had always been there for her, she didn't know what she would do without him, he had always been one of her rocks in this world "Thanks Rhodey."

"No problem kid." He offers her a small smile and is about to speak again when her phone starts ringing, Buffy quickly pulls away and answers the phone "Hello?"  
 _"Buffy, it's me."_ Xander says urgently.  
Buffy raises an eyebrow "Hey, Xand you guys get back to Sunnydale okay?"

 _"Yeah. But Buffy, Anya is in the hospital."_  
Buffy's eyes widen "Oh, my god, Xander. Is she ok?"

 _"Yeah, but...Buffy, she said that a group of vampires kidnapped Dawn."_  
Buffy's eyes widen, any annoyance she had for her sister disappearing as a panic and overwhelming urge to protect and save her sister kicked in "I'll be right there." She says quickly before hanging up the phone.

She turns to Rhodey "Dawn was taken I have to—"  
Rhodey nods in understanding "Don't worry about it, go find your sister. I'll deal with Tony."

* * *

S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters – Location Unknown

"Are you sure you don't need me down there, sir?" Clint Barton asks the director as he stands in his office.  
Nick Fury turns to the agent and shakes his head "I'm sure. You seem to forget the Slayer would spot you in a second, considering last time she saw you she knocked you on your ass."

Fury chuckles to himself slightly while Barton sighs, she hadn't kicked his ass...okay maybe just a little but he was just getting warmed up "She did not kick my ass, I was just unaware of how strong a Slayer would be."

"Don't worry Barton. Romanoff has this handled. Miss Summers would have made you the moment you stepped foot into that building. Plus I need you to focus on our next problem, we found something in the desert. Something that may change our world, and I don't know if it's for the best."

"What is it?" Barton asks confused.  
Fury turns to him "A Hammer."


	10. Chapter 10

Sunnydale, California

Buffy walks into her house and immediately is surrounded by her friends "Who took her?" Buffy asks, anger and fear filling her voice, despite the fact that there were times where she hated her sister but she still loved her and would always protect her.  
"Harmony and her minions" Xander tells her.

Buffy raises an eyebrow and chuckles for a moment, that was not what she had expected "Harmony—has—minions." At that she couldn't hold her laughs in, she ends up laughing so much that her chest begins to ache.

Riley chuckles slightly as well "Buffy..."

The blonde nods and slowly keeps herself from breaking into tears of laughter "Where is she held up?"

Xander shrugs "Not sure. All we know is that she wants to kill you. I'm guessing pretending to be bad is her new flavour of the month. Anyway Dawn yelled and Harmony got an invitation."

Buffy's eyes widen "Dawn did what?!" She hisses.  
"Buffy, she didn't mean to."

Buffy scoffs, she was so sick of everyone trying to protect Dawn when she did something stupid "Oh she never does, Dawn can never do anything wrong." Buffy rolls her eyes, if Harmony didn't kill her sister she was going to at this rate "What does Harmony want?"

"You. She took Dawn so you would come for her."

Buffy sighs "Fine. She wants me, she 's gonna get me." She says simply before heading upstairs to go get weapons. She just wanted to get this over with so she could go home and keep her father from getting himself killed.

* * *

Buffy kicks down the door at Spike's, he turns to her "Well, speaking of dishes, looks whose back, to what do I owe this unpleasant—" Before Spike can finish his question Buffy punches him in the face "Ow! Bloody hell!" He exclaims as he falls backwards crashing into the stone pillar.

Buffy grabs a hold of him pinning him to the pillar "I don't have time for banter, Spike. Get enough of it from other men in my life. Where's Harmony's lair?"

Spike glares at her "Haven't seen her in months. How should I know—" Buffy punches him again "Ow!"

"Where is she? Answer me Spike I am having a very bad day, and I'm not a big fan of travel. So my anger levels are very high at the moment don't give me a reason to hit you again."

"At least lay off the nose." He asks, when she pulls back her fist again he raises his hands in surrender "Okay, okay! Used to have a cave in the north woods, about 40 meters past the overpass construction site."

Buffy nods before punching him in the face again.

"Ow!" Spike yells as he clutches his nose, as Buffy turns away and heads for the exit he yells "I was telling you the truth!"

"I know. But like I said bad day." She says before slamming the door behind her.

* * *

Malibu, California

"Hey, Pepper." Rhodey says as he approaches the red head at Tony's party.  
Pepper turns to him with a worried frown on her face as she realises that a certain blonde was missing from the room "Do you know where Buffy is?"

Rhodey nods sadly remembering back to the argument between the father and daughter, he hated it when the two of them fought, it just seemed so un-natural "Sunnydale, Tony and her had an argument and Dawn's in trouble."

Pepper nods running a hand through her hair in frustration, was nothing ever going to be simple in their lives again "Okay. I'll call her, um...it's probably best she's not here. I'm going to go get some air."  
Rhodey frowns at the upset look on Pepper's face "What's wrong?"

Pepper leads him into the living room "I don't know what to do. And my backup plan was to have Buffy knock him out but..."

"You have got to be kidding me." Rhodey says suddenly cutting her off as he watches the drunk Tony parade around in the Iron Man suit "Where's the super strong daughter when you need her."  
Rhodey shakes his head in disbelief as the anger builds up, he couldn't believe Tony was acting this way, he had figured that Buffy coming back into Tony's life would mature him, apparently not "That's it. I'm making..."

Pepper grabs his arm "No, don't call anyone."  
Rhodey turns to her, she couldn't be serious "This is ridiculous. I just stuck my neck out for this guy. He is not just putting himself at risk, but Buffy as well, I mean..."  
Pepper interjects "I know. I know. I get it. I'm gonna handle it, okay? Just let me handle it."  
"Handle it." He tells her as he turns and glares at Tony "Or I'm gonna have to."

Rhodey watches in disgust as Tony continues to make an ass out of himself and the second that he starts blowing things up with the suit, Rhodey loses it. He heads down the stairs to the garage and makes his way to the suits.

* * *

Sunnydale, California

Buffy walks into the cave just as one of the vampires approaches Dawn "T-touch me, and my sister's gonna kill you."  
The vampire smirks and places his finger on Dawn's shoulder, all the other vamps laugh.

Buffy shoots the crossbow, as the other vampires turn to her she shrugs "Can't say she didn't warn him."

Harmony turns to the largest of the vampires "And you didn't like the plan."

Buffy rolls her eyes and looks over at her sister "Dawn, close your eyes."

Harmony makes her way over to Buffy "So, Slayer, at last we meet."  
Buffy raises an eyebrow, she really was the ultimate blonde idiot "We've met, Harmony, you half-wit."  
"I'm the half-wit? Um, excuse me, but looks who's fallen into my—"

Buffy ducks as one of the vamps swings an axe at her, then simply stakes him as his body turns to dust Buffy catches the axe and spins around quickly swinging the axe, effectively removing the next vamp's head.

Harmony was now staring at Buffy in fear, maybe her plan hadn't been that well thought out "Trap."

Buffy turns to the stereotypical blonde "Harmony, when you tried to be head cheerleader you were bad. When you tried to chair the homecoming committee, you were really bad. But when you try to be bad, you suck. And you know what else, you interrupted my vacation so I'm really going to enjoying beating your ass."

"Buffy, watch out!" Dawn yells as the large vamp sneaks up behind Buffy, Buffy spins and swings out her fist but he blocks it and sends a punch to her face, he then slams a hammer into her back, causing her to fall to the ground.

Harmony cheers only to cut herself off when the vampire Mort glares at her, while Harmony makes a run for it Buffy stands quickly just avoiding the hammer as Mort swings it again, this time it hits the floor. Buffy swings her fist upwards hitting him beneath the jaw, she grabs the log of wood next to her and swings it at him but it snaps, Mort punches Buffy causing her to stumble slightly, however when he goes in for another hit, she ducks and then kicks him in the stomach sending him crashing into the wall. When she goes for another he grabs her leg and tosses her to the ground before lifting her body and throwing it across the room.

Buffy groans in pain slightly but flips herself up and continues to attack, as he manages to get a hold of her he hold her off the ground, Buffy struggles but then an idea comes to her as she spots the unicorn next to her. Buffy places her feet on Mort's chest and pushes herself into a triple tuck landing away from him.

As he stumbles backwards Buffy grabs the unicorn and drives the horn into his heart.

* * *

After freeing Dawn, Buffy helps her sister into the car and drives her home. As they head inside Buffy speaks up "You are so lucky your dad is as clueless as you, other wise you would be in so much trouble."  
"But—"  
Buffy shakes her head "Upstairs. Now! Xander said your dad is back, he's asleep so-up-stairs- now."

Dawn glares at her before storming upstairs, Buffy rolls her eyes and calls Willow to check that Harmony's invitation had been retracted before she heads outside the house.

"Buffy!" A voice yells from above.  
Buffy looks around and frowns in confusion as she doesn't spot anyone.

"Up here." Buffy looks up and freezes in shock as she spots Rhodey currently hovering above the ground in one of her father's suits.  
"Rhodey? You look..."

Rhodey lands in front of her and lets the mask rise revealing the smirk on his face "Awesome, I know."  
Buffy continues to stare "Um...no offence but how did you..."

Rhodey sighs "I waited till you got Dawn home, but your dad...let's just say you need to get back. Now."  
Buffy's eyes widen "What did he do?"

* * *

Malibu, California

The minute that Rhodey drops her off back at the house Buffy stares at disbelief at the state of the place, he had destroyed her house, oh he was so gonna get an ass kicking when he gets home.  
If anything in her room was ruined she was going to throw him around the room.

"You have got to be kidding me. Damn dumbass better not have blown up my room." She mutters as she storms down the barely there stairs, she heads straight to the corner of the room where her suit is kept "Jarvis where is he?" She asks as she grabs the leather outfit.

 _"Currently sitting on the roof of a Randy's doughnuts store about an hour away from here."_  
Buffy rolls her eyes "He's an idiot."  
 _"I'm afraid that I cannot disagree with you there Miss Stark."_  
Buffy smiles as she slips on her wig "You are still my favourite Jar."

"Thank you Miss. Now your vehicle is ready I estimated the time, with the way you drive you should be able to reach the location in about 15 minutes."  
"Got it." The blonde says as she grabs her staff and places it onto her bike, which thankfully hadn't been destroyed.

As she jumps onto her bike she glances back at the almost completely destroyed room and sighs "Can't leave him alone for even a afternoon can I." She asks herself before taking off in the direction of the donut place.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Buffy yells as she watches her father sit in a giant donut eating, he really was a moron.

Tony let's his glasses falls to the tip of his noise and waves "Buff. What you doing here?"

Buffy scoffs and shakes her head in disbelief how she was related to him was a question that was still pestering her to this day "What am I doing here?! You trashed my house dumbass!"  
"Technically it's my house."  
"Well considering your dying, and in your will your leaving it to me, it's my house now."

Tony raises an eyebrow "How'd you know what's in my will?"  
Buffy crosses her arms looking scarily like her mother which only made Tony gulp in fear as she began yelling at him "You told me last time you were drunk off your ass. NOW GET DOWN!"

Tony gulps slightly before downing the rest of his bear the alcohol giving him confidence "Ahh...Nope."  
Buffy groans "You're as bad as Dawn. Don't make me come up there."

"Sir. I believe you should listen to your girl, we both know she's a tough one."

Buffy turns to see had spoken and freezes, as she spots none other than Nick Fury himself. "I'm gonna have to ask you to exit the doughnut." Fury says before turning to Buffy, who was still staring "You have got to be kidding me." She says.  
Fury merely grins "Well hello again to you Miss Summers. Now collect your father, we have business to discuss."

* * *

"I told you I don't wanna join your super-secret boy band." Tony says, obviously hung over, as him and Buffy sit with Fury at the table.

Fury chuckles softly "No, no, no. See, I remember, you do everything yourself. And then your daughter has to come and save your ass. Honestly I would rather just have her on my team."

Buffy sighs but couldn't let the smug smile that crossed her lips as she looks over at her now annoyed father "Would, but can't. Too much crazy-ier stuff to do. Plus after the Initiative, me and government don't get along too well."

"You say that now." Fury says with a smile as he glances over at the blonde.

Before the blonde can speak Tony interjects, "I'm sorry. I don't wanna get off on the wrong foot. Do I look at the patch or the eye?"  
Buffy at this point slaps Tony in the back of the head "Hey!" He exclaims "What was that for?!"  
Buffy glares at him "A lot of things in the past few days."  
Tony rolls his eyes "Can you hit me when I'm not hungover."  
"When are you ever not hungover?"

Tony pauses, she did have a point there, he couldn't argue "Fair point." He turns back to Fury "Like the blonde says I'm hungover so I don't know if you're real or—"  
Fury leans forward as he cuts Tony off "I am very real. I'm the realest person you're ever gonna meet."

"Just my luck. Where's the staff here?" Tony moves to raise his hand but Buffy grabs it and slams it on the table "Don't be an ass."  
Tony groans "Why are you so strong..." When she arches a brow at him he groans, crap why did his daughter have to be such a badass "Oh I forgot. So not fair." As he pouts Fury raises a hand to Tony's neck.  
"That's not looking too good." He says as he examines the wound.

Buffy looks over at Fury confused before grabbing Tony's chin and tilting his head to the side so she can see his neck.  
"Hey! Careful with the chin, will ya?" Tony asks annoyed, but the blonde ignores him as her eyes spot what Fury had seen.  
"It's getting worse." She realises "Oh, god. It looks like some computer typy stuff, kinda ironic that you'd get infected with a computer disease considering you're Mr. Computer."

"I'm fine." He says trying to assure her, he didn't want her to worry about him, he was so scared about putting her through the pain of losing another parent. She had too much on her plate right now, he was just trying to protect her, despite the fact it was probably not the best way to do it.

Buffy is about to respond when she hears familiar footsteps coming towards them, she chuckles "I knew it!" She says as she turns to face Natalie/Natasha.  
Natasha turns to Fury "We've secured the area but I don't think we should hold it for too much longer."  
Tony looks over at the redhead "Huh. You're fired."  
"That's not up to you." The redhead grins before taking a seat next to Fury.

Buffy turns to Fury "I knew it. No one is able to take down Happy as easily as that, unless their me...actually anyone can do that but not many people know the move, she used. You know if my stupid sister hadn't been well...stupid I would have done what I did to the last guy you sent to watch me."

Fury raises an eyebrow "Don't know what your talking about Miss. Summers."

Buffy smirks as she remembers back to knocking that agent on his ass a few years ago "You're boy Barton, I'm not an idiot you have that stupid eagle symbol printed on everything, including his bulletproof vest which I spotted under his shirt, just didn't mean anything to me back then. Anyway when I happened to have whipped the guy's ass, when you sent him to watch me in L.A he was talking over coms to a woman. And you..." She says turning to the redhead "...have a similar style of fighting. Although you're better."

The redhead grins and glances over at Fury "I like her."

"You and me both." Fury says in agreement before turning back to the father and daughter "Time for introductions. Tony, Buffy, I want you to meet Agent Romanoff."  
Tony nods "Hi."

Natasha turns to the billionaire "I'm a S.H.I.E.L.D shadow. Once we knew you were ill, I was tasked to you by Director Fury."  
Buffy turns to Fury "Risky putting another one of your people near me, the other one ended up with a large bruise...or several large bruises and I'm guessing quite a concussion."

Fury shrugs "Well you're not as in a bad mood as you were at that point, plus having a middle aged man follow you into a dark alley-I'll admit was not the best idea."  
"Ya think?"  
"Well didn't have much of a choice this time. Just glad you didn't put another of our best into a hospital."

"Hey." Buffy says trying to defend herself "He was all big with the creepy I had every right to...okay fine I went a bit over the top."

Fury chuckles before turning to her father "You've been very busy. While your daughter is off saving the planet, you're what, making your girl your CEO, giving away all your stuff. You let you friend fly away with your suit."

Buffy shrugs she couldn't see a problem with Rhodey having the suit "Rhodey's better with the suit anyway, looks way more badass."  
Tony glares at her "Don't you—"  
"Shh." Buffy tells him "Time to listen to the adults, Dad."

Fury nods in agreement while Tony merely glares in annoyance at his daughter "I suggest you listen to your girl. She's the smart one out of the two of you. Now, if I didn't know better..."

"You don't know better." Tony says, cutting Fury off "I didn't give it to him. He took it." He turns to Buffy "And he does not look more badass than me."  
"Kinda does." She argues.  
"Does not."

"Children, settle down." Fury says drawing both of their attention "I have a question Stark, he took it? You're Iron Man and he just took it? The little brother walked in there, kicked your ass and took your suit? Is that possible?" Fury asks as he turns to Natasha.

The Agent shakes her head "Well, according to Mr Stark's database security guidelines, there are redundancies to prevent unauthorised usage."  
Buffy looks down "Those can be easily overridden." She mutters.  
Tony turns to her not liking the sound of this "Buffy?"

Buffy chuckles nervously "You were in New York, we didn't break anything, plus where else was I going to go for spring break."

Tony stares at her in astonishment, this couldn't be happening, if that giant man child had touched his daughter in his house Tony swore he was going to fly down to Sunnydale and dismember him right now "Tell me you didn't let the boyfriend in my house—"

Buffy chuckles again before turning to Fury "So what do you want with him or me or us?"  
Tony glares at the blonde "We're not done here." He mutters before turning to Fury "I'm actually curious about that myself."

"What do we want from you?" Fury asks "Na, na, na what do you want from me? You have become a problem, a problem I have to deal with. Contrary to your belief, you are not the centre of my universe. I have bigger problems than you in the southwest region to deal with. And considering your offspring helps me have less problems, it's like you just like to fill those gaps. Hit him." Fury says suddenly.

As he does Natasha suddenly appears and injects something into Tony's neck "What the hell?!" Buffy exclaims as Tony gasps in pain.

"Look at his neck." Natasha tells the blonde, Buffy gives her an odd look before grabbing Tony's chin and tilting his head again.  
"Oh, God, are you gonna steal my kidney and sell it?" He asks as he looks up at Natasha "Could you please not do anything awful for five seconds?"

"Dad, shut up." Buffy tells him as she watches the blue stuff on his neck slowly start to disappear. "What did you do to him?" She asks as she looks over at Fury.  
Fury turns to the blonde "What did we just do for him?" He glances over at Tony "That's lithium dioxide. It's gonna take the edge off. We're trying to get you back to work."  
Tony nods "Give me a couple boxes and I'll be right as rain."  
Natasha interjects "It's not a cure, it just abates the symptoms."

"Doesn't look like it's gonna be an easy fix." Fury says as he looks at Tony's neck.

Tony turns to the Director "Trust me, I know. I'm good at this stuff. I've been looking for a suitable replacement for palladium. I've tried every combination, every permutation of every known element."  
"Well, I'm here to tell you, you haven't tried them all."  
Buffy arches an eyebrow "You just love being all vague and stuff don't cha?"  
Fury smiles "Keeps the fun alive."


	11. Chapter 11

_"Willow told me about your dad? Are you okay?"_ Riley asks as him and Buffy talk on the phone.

"Well having another dying parent, not exactly fun." Buffy says sadly, even the idea of losing her father was killing her, they were so close and she knew it would crush her if any happened to him. She had already lost her mom, she couldn't lose him too, she wouldn't survive it.

Riley sighs, clearly worried about his girlfriend and wanting to be there for her _"I'm gonna come up, I'll be there for you, help you through this."_

Buffy smiles softly at the suggestion, Riley could be such a sweetie but she wasn't the type of person to go crying to her boyfriend, right now her main focus was to help her father and she couldn't do that if she was falling apart "That's sweet Riley but right now, could you just watch Dawn. I got to make sure my dad's okay."

 _"Buffy—"_

"I'll be fine." She assures him before a voice behind her draws her attention.  
"Buffy, you coming?" Her father calls from the other room and instantly Buffy becomes more distant on the phone to her boyfriend all thoughts now focused on helping her father.  
"I'll be right there." She says before rushing out a quick goodbye to her boyfriend "Riley I got to go. Thank you."

"I love you." He tells her however to his disappointment, she doesn't say it back, she just hangs up and heads over to the others, the words he had admitted to her not even registering in her head.

"How's the boytoy?" Tony asks as she approaches.  
Buffy rolls her eyes and turns to Fury, the one man in the room who at this point in time she didn't want to slap in the face for being an idiot "So what do we know?"  
Fury turns to the blonde "That thing in your dad's chest is based on unfinished technology."

"No, it was finished." Tony tells him not liking the fact that he was being excluded from this conversation "It has never been particularly effective until I miniaturised it and put it in my..."

Fury sighs cutting him off, Stark didn't know the whole story, maybe it was time "No. Howard said the arc reactor was the stepping stone to something greater. He was about to kick off an energy race that was gonna dwarf the arms race. He was on to something big, something so big that it was gonna make the nuclear reactor look like a triple-A battery."

Buffy whistles slightly as she leans back in her chair before grinning teasingly at her father "Wow gramps had a bigger ego then you." She says as she taps her father on the chest before turning back to Fury.  
Tony shrugs "Pretty much." He says in agreement, she did have a fair point.  
After a moment he turns to Fury "Just him, or was Anton Vanko in on this, too?"

"Anton Vanko is on the other side of that coin." Fury informs them "Anton saw it as a way to get rich."  
Buffy interjects "Guessing good old gramps not so thrilled with that."

"Right you are Miss Summers, when Howard found out he had him deported. When the Russians found out he couldn't deliver, they shipped his ass off to Siberia and he spent the next 20 years in a vodka-fulled rage. Not quite the environment you want to raise a kid in, the son you had the misfortune of crossing paths with in Monaco."

Tony frowns looking between the two and tapping his daughter's shoulder "You're not giving me enough attention." He moans not liking the fact that this conversation seemed to be mainly taking place between his daughter and Fury.  
Buffy rolls her eyes at her father "When you're not destroying my house I shall give you more attention."  
Tony pouts slightly before turning back to Fury intent on including himself more in the conversation "You told me I hadn't tried everything. What do you mean I haven't tried everything?"

Buffy nods, she was curious about that too it seemed like they had searched for every possible solution with no results "He really has, doesn't know how to shut up about it either. All day every day, 'I know everything' blablabla. You're lucky you don't live with him Fury, you'd have a migraine."  
Fury chuckles slightly "I have you to deal with him 24/7, I'm only part time, thank god."  
Buffy grumbles "Lucky bastard."

Fury smiles at the girl before turning back to Tony "He said that you were the only person with the means and knowledge to finish what he stared."  
Tony just stares at him unconvinced "He said that?" That he couldn't believe, there was no way in hell his father would say that, the man had had no faith in him growing up.

Fury nods "Are you that guy? Are you? Cause if you are, then you can solve the riddle of your heart."

"Then you won't die, and I can kill you for not telling me you were dying." Buffy pauses trying to keep her emotions at bay when a though occurs to her "...Did you tell Pepper?" At his silence her eyes widen "Oh she's gonna kill you."

"Shut it." Tony tells her before turning back to Fury "I don't know where you get your information. But he wasn't my biggest fan. You should have seen the last conversation we had not pretty."  
"What do you remember about your dad?" Fury asks him.  
Buffy turns to her father curious as well, her mom hadn't known Howard very well and her dad never talked about either of his parents, she knew very little about her family, which only made her more curious.

"He was cold, he was calculating. He never told me he loved me. He never even told me he liked me. He basically told me that Joyce getting pregnant was gonna ruin my life...So it's a little tough for me to digest when you're telling me he said the whole future was riding on me and he's passing it down. I don't get that. You're talking about a guy whose happiest day was when he shipped me off to boarding school."

"That's not true." Fury says simply, he knew Howard and despite his cold exterior there was only one thing in this world he cared about more than himself and that was his son "I'll admit you are a better father than you dad, which isn't saying much but that is not true."  
"Well, then, clearly you knew my dad better than I did."

At that moment the three's conversation is stalled as two agents walks out onto the balcony and place a large metal case in front of Buffy and Tony.  
"Wow can't wait to tell my friends about the metal case. They don't have one this big." She says sarcastically as she taps the case before rolling her eyes.

Fury sighs before turning back to the male Stark in the room "As a matter of face, I did." he tells them "He was one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Buffy raises an eyebrow, her grandfather was a spy? That was awesome.

"Eyepatch wearing spy guy say what now? You mean gramps was part of the stupid long name club. And condoned actually making up a name that long so that the initials would spell out shield?" Buffy pauses for a moment "Wait if he was a spy does that make me a spy but genetics? Cause I don't wanna be a spy."  
Fury doesn't answer her he merely stands trying to keep back the chuckle, she really was a rare find this girl.

Tony frowns as the point Buffy had brought up runs through his mind, turning to his daughter he shrugs "We'll google it."  
"Cool." She says before giving him a fist bump.  
Tony chuckles before standing and facing the large case or crate in front of him "What's this?

'"Okay your good right." Fury says clearly not hearing the question or more likely purposely ignoring the question.  
"NO I'm not good."  
"You got this? Right? Right?"  
Buffy snorts in amusement this was entertaining, now she understood why Pepper liked watching her and Tony argue so much, it was nice watching someone arguing back with him.

Tony continues to stare confused so Fury turns to Buffy "Natasha will remain a floater at Stark with her cover intact. Make sure he doesn't ruin it and don't break another one of my agents please."  
Buffy glances over at Natasha "She's fine. I won't hurt her, unless she tries to steal my clothes."  
Fury chuckles before gesturing to Agent Coulson "You remember Agent Coulson, right?"

Buffy nods "How you doing Agent C?" She pauses "Or can I call you AC?"  
"I'd rather you not." Coulson answers before turning to Fury and giving him a brief nod.  
Buffy shrugs before turning back to the Director of Shield herself and raising her hands "Just making it clear just cause I agree with you doesn't mean I'm a spy or working for you. Got it?"  
Fury chuckles slightly, he really did need her on his team "We'll see."  
As the blonde glares at him Fury starts to walk off but turns back "And Tony, remember, I got my eye on you." Fury gives him a pointed look before heading off.

Buffy turns to Natasha "I'm guessing he's on house arrest."  
Natasha nods "You are free to come and go as you please. Fury trusts you more than, Mr. Stark, plus he knows that if you want to leave we can't stop you."

Buffy grins before Natasha turns to Tony "We've disabled all communications. No contact with the outside world. Good luck."

Buffy grins happily before she has to keep herself from laughing as she watches Tony and Coulson speak, Buff can no longer keep the laughs in as Coulson speaks up "I will taze you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet."  
Buffy turns to Coulson "That sounds like a normal Friday night anyway, so won't be that hard."

* * *

A Few Days Later - S.H.I.E.L.D Headquarters

"You're 2:00 is here Director Fury." The short female agent says as he approaches "Thank you Agent May." The director says as he heads into his office.  
Once the door closes behind him, Fury freezes "I don't like people sitting in my chair."

The man currently sitting in Fury's chair spins the chair around to face him, "Well I don't like your view, but you don't hear me complaining. Although your scotch is a different story."  
Fury sighs "Whistler. Out of my chair, I don't give a damn why you wanted to meet but get your damn ass out of my chair."

Whistler raises his hands in defence "Jeez touchy." Whistler stands from the chair picking up his glass of scotch and moves to stand by the window "So we gotta talk Furry Man."

Fury Rolls his eyes as he approaches his desk, he places his hands on the desk and looks over at the demon "Figured that by the way you hijacked my schedule to fit yourself in. So what do you want?"  
"It's not about what I want." Whistler says as he turns to face the director "This Furry man is about what you want. You see you want the Slayer to join your little superhero team—what are they called again? Super squad, the band of Supertons, the Secret Warriors—"

"It's the Avenger's Initiative." Fury says sternly getting fed up with the demon "You know I ain't got all day, gotta a big green man to keep my eye on plus a dying billionaire."

Whistler grins "That's not all you got to keep your eye on. You see there is something in Sunnydale, something bigger than you've ever seen. The Slayer needs to get down there."  
"And I fit into this how? I'm not your damn delivery girl." Fury says as he moves around the desk and takes a seat.

Whistler downs the rest of the scotch before sitting down opposite the director and pouring himself another drink "Well missy you want the little blonde on your little team but you need her released from the powers first. So I suggest you send the girl a little hint that she's needed in Sunnydale, she'll go see, come clean up her daddy's mess then head back to SunnyD."

Fury looks at him unconvinced, causing Whistler to roll his eyes "Look you don't trust me fine. I get it...demon not so big with the trust. Look if you wanna make sure, send one of your little pets with her, just to make sure."

The Director of S.H.I.E.L.D sighs and momentarily considers his options "Fine. I have anAagent who could use some time out of here."  
Whistler grins "And my work here is done." The demon stands and makes his way to the door only to pause and glance back at the director "A little warning, in the next few months a lot of things are gonna happen, the Slayer will not be the same kid we know. She'll be less...inclined to join your team after this, so I suggest you get working on your speech."

Whistler tilts his head at the man before walking out the front door.

Fury leans back in his chair before pressing the green button on his desk "Send Agent May in."

 _"Yes Director Fury."_ His assistant says politely.

Fury sighs and moves away from his desk standing by the floor length window and staring out at the city below. As much as he didn't want to do this to Agent May she was the best Agent for the job. Convincing her however was the real challenge.

A few minutes later in enters Agent May "Sir?"  
Fury turns to the woman "Melinda. Take a seat."  
Agent May does as he says before looking over at him confused "Sir—"  
Fury cuts in "I need a favour."

"I'm not going into the field." She says sternly, her face void of emotion.  
Fury moves towards her and sits on the edge of his desk "And I'm not asking you to. Melinda, I just need you to make sure an informant of mine is not messing around."

May raises an eyebrow, as much as she didn't want to leave her desk, she couldn't help but be curious "What do you need me to do?"  
Fury smirks before grabbing the large file on his desk and dumping it in front of May.

"Buffy Anne Summers Stark." Fury tells her, "Extreme strength, speed, heightened senses, prophetic dreams."  
May looks at the file in interest before picking it up, she never would have suspected the Stark girl of being a gifted "Stark? She's a gifted? Why didn't we know this earlier."  
Fury chuckles "We did. Girls been this way for a while, there were others but lets just say, me and the big guys have a little deal."

May lets out a small breath as she realises his goal here, something Coulson mentioned to her on her last field mission before she joined the desk team "You want her for that team."

"Coulson." Fury chuckles knowing that he should probably have no told Coulson, he wasn't the best at undercover "Anything to do with team and he just can't seem to keep his mouth shut. Look I want you to take her to Sunnydale, just for the next few days, apparently something big is gonna happen there. Just drop her off and monitor her we need to know if my intel is right. Once we know bring her back, Stark's gonna need her help."

May sighs, she desperately didn't want to go into the field after what happened in Bahrain, but this was the Director. "One last mission." She tells him making it clear there was no room for argument, she looks him in the eye and when he nods in agreement she sighs.  
"Where you are barely doing anything." He assures her "Just monitor the girl."  
May looks up at the director "When do I leave?"

Fury grins "You head to Malibu tonight. Romanoff is on mission so just get Miss Summers and go. You'll have 48 hours, that's how long I'm guessing till the grown up Stark screws up something big." He moves to face the window but pauses and turns to her, he should probably warn "Also, you will have convince her to go with you...Barton was not successful when he tried."

May nods and stands "Barton's an idiot." She points out before grabbing the file on Buffy before heading for the door, as she is about to leave Fury's voice makes her pause "I'm sorry about Bahrain." Fury tells her.  
May freezes her whole body going rigid "Thank you, sir." She says quickly before heading out of the room.

* * *

Malibu, California

For days Buffy watched her father going through that crate.  
She kept her distance, and the two of them were still not on the best of terms. She didn't hate him and she wasn't even angry anymore, she was more hurt and terrified than anything else. She was upset he hadn't told her the truth and she was scared that she was going to lose the only parent she had left.

After a work out trying to express her emotions in a less than healthy way Buffy walks out of the gym only to spot Tony in one of his grey suits heading for the door.

He pauses when he spots her, an awkward tension filling the air, a tension which he hated more than anything, they hadn't acted this awkwardly around each other since he found out about her powers "Hey."  
Buffy looks over at him "Hey" She says back distantly.

The two stand there awkwardly for several moment before finally Tony breaks the silence "Look I don't admit I'm wrong a lot of the time, but...I'm sorry Buff. I shouldn't have lied to you, I was trying to protect you—"

Buffy cuts him off "That's what mom told Giles you know." She says softly her voice breaking at the memory of the argument her and Giles had had after her mother's death "That she was trying to protect me, that's why she never told me she was sick. And you know what happened..." Buffy's voice wavers as she struggles to speak "...I didn't get to say goodbye to her. And then you!" She says, her voice clearly showing the anger building "You lied to me!"

"I know, I'm sorry." Tony tries but the blonde goes on.

"What if you had died?" She asks tears threatening to spill, she couldn't hold it in anymore, her emotions were just flowing freely now and she couldn't control it "I can't lose anyone else I care about? Especially you, you're my dad and I need you here."

Tony looks at her sadly before moving closer and wrapping his arms around his shaky daughter "I'm promise you. I will never lie to you again. I'm so sorry Buffy."  
Buffy chuckles as she tucks her chin into his shoulder "Good, cause if you do, I'm so gonna kick your ass."  
"And sadly I know that is very much true. And completely possible." Tony says with a chuckle.

Buffy smiles before pulling away from her father "Where you off to then, you've been living in sweat pants for the past week?"  
"I'm off to see the Potts." He tells her.  
Buffy arches an eyebrow "Good luck. She's actually gonna kill you."

Tony chuckles "We'll see about that." He says before giving her a wave and heading out the front door. Buffy shakes her head in amusement before heading into the living room.

She walks though the living room and heads towards the kitchen and reaches into the fridge pulling out a bottle of water.

Just as she is about to take a gulp of the water "Miss Summers." A voice from behind her says, Buffy immediately drops the bottle of water and grabs one of the kitchen knifes before hurling it towards the person who had spoken.

Buffy watches in shock as the small asian woman catches the blade in between her palms "You've got impressive aim." The woman says.

Buffy watches the woman intently, she couldn't help but be impressed, but ends up rolling her eyes when she spots the S.H.I.E.L.D symbol on the woman's jacket.  
Seriously did Fury have no boundaries?  
"Oh great, another suit. Thought you lot left."

Agent May stares at the girl, her face void of emotion, this girl reminded her a lot of herself when she was younger, carefree, sarcastic, fun, and May knew deep down that she couldn't let herself care about this girl, she had to keep her emotions under control "I don't wear suits. I'm Agent Melinda May, I've been asked by Director Fury to escort you to Sunnydale, California."

Buffy scoffs "Yeah, likes that gonna happen." The blonde rolls her eyes before picking up her water, Fury was unbelievable did he seriously think he could send one of his lackeys and she would just go along with it?  
She quickly leaps up and sits on the kitchen counter turning to the Agent "Look just cause you say Mr stick up his ass wants me to head on up home, doesn't mean I'm going to. I don't take orders."  
"Fury says that something is happening in your town something you need to see."  
Buffy again rolls her eyes "And he couldn't have just told me?"  
"He's a busy man." May says flatly.

Buffy sighs before looking over at the Agent with a curious glint in her eye "So what's the big deal in SunnyD? Cause if it's giant snakes, Mayor's, high school principals you can count me out. Be there done that."  
"That's classified."

Buffy rolls her eyes before leaning forward, she couldn't believe the leather weather guy, he expected her just to go along with his orders on what blind faith? Yeah so not gonna happen.  
"So I don't get told why I'm going or what could and will likely try and me? Thanks but na, I've got my own links there, if something was going down my friends would have told me."

May looks up at the blonde, stunned slightly, she had been warned the girl was head strong she was a Stark after all but she wasn't like other Slayers in the past, she didn't just follow orders. Buffy had the mind of a leader a general she wouldn't just follow blind Faith. Especially from someone like Fury who she barely knew.  
May takes a deep breath before clenching her jaw "A man named Whistler warned Fury that something big was coming to Sunnydale, that change your mind."  
At that familiar name Buffy tenses up, this couldn't be happening, if Whistler was talking about something big coming that meant the powers were worried. Clenching her jaw she jumps off the counter and grabs her jacket, maybe a few days out of this house would do her good anyway.

She moves to the door only to find May following her "Yeah no Agent-y people."  
May crosses her arms "Those are my orders. Fury wants me with you for the next 48 hours I will be glued to your side. Then..."  
Buffy clenches her jaw slightly before rolling her eyes, she could see it in the woman's eyes, there was nothing she could do to stop her from following her.  
"Fine you drive." Buffy says with a shrug "I need a nap anyway because the second I'm done in Sunnydale I gotta come clean up my dad's mess."


	12. Chapter 12

Sunnydale, California

"Hey stop!" Buffy tells May, as she spots a large man walking in the street. She was pretty sure she knew exactly what he was and it had been a while, she really wanted to kill something.

"It's almost midnight." May informs her with a roll of her eyes, the girl couldn't seriously believe that she was going to pull over "I am taking you to your house and tomorrow we will follow Fury's orders."

Buffy rolls her eyes "Order's sumders just pull the car over."

When May refuses Buffy groans before kicking the door open and rolling out of the car. May who was in utter shock at Buffy's actions slams on the breaks and stares at the Slayer in astonishment, Fury was right...she was nuts.

The blonde ignores the screech of the tires as May tries to slow the car. "Buffy!" May yells as she finally manages to bring the car to a halt.

Buffy ignores the agent and continues to head over to the man, she whistles at him drawing his attention "Hey big guy."

The man turns to face her and a grin covers Buffy's face as she confirms her theory.

"Knew I hadn't lost my touch."

The vampire growls "Slayer."

Buffy nods "Hi." She says before punching him the face.

May who was momentarily shocked by the creature moves forward but again stops as she watches the blonde. She watches in amazement as the tiny blonde completely destroys the large vampire.

The vampire throws Buffy up against the metal fence and the blonde quickly ducks as he tries to punch her, he looks down at her "I've always wanted to kill the slayer."

Buffy shrugs as she stands "And I've always wanted piano lessons." She says before punching him in the stomach "But when you have a dad like mine piano lessons are too 'lame'." Buffy sends her fist up punching him in the bottom of the jaw "So, really, who's surprised we have all this unexpressed rage?"

May continues to watch, and can't help but be impressed as the young girl manages to fight a man twice her size. Honestly, she had doubted Fury and Coulson's obsessions with her, hell she hadn't even taken Barton seriously when he had spoken about her.

But she was clearly wrong.

This girl was amazing.

Buffy kicks the vampire causing him to stumble back slightly but when she goes in for another hit the vampire manages to block her blow and then punches her in the face.  
Buffy stumbles into the space behind the fence but as the vampire goes in for another hit she blocks it with both of her hands before twisting his arm and kicking him the stomach "But honestly, I think I'm expressing mine better." She says before shoving him against  
the fence "I'll tell you what."

She twists the vampire's arm behind his back and shoves him forcefully against the fence "You find yourself a good anger management class..." Buffy pulls the stake out of her pocket before glancing back at the vampire "...and I'll jam this pokey wood stick through your heart." She says before shoving the stake into his chest.

Buffy shakes herself off reviling in the slayage, yes Malibu was fun and all but she couldn't deny that she missed this. Turning to May she smiles brightly now feeling a lot more zen "Okay slightly less pissed off at my dad now, we may have talked about it but I still had some inner crap that needed closure and I think that sets the world speed record for closure."

May approaches the blonde, with a worried glint in her eyes "You shouldn't have done that."

Buffy turns to the agent "Yeah sorry bout your car but you know spidy sense and all."

"It's not the car. You could have gotten yourself killed." May tells her flatly not wanting emotion to enter her voice. To be honest there was something about this girl that made her want to protect her and make sure she didn't get hurt.

Buffy shrugs "I'm good. Trust me you've got the smart Stark here."

May glares at the young girl "It was irresponsible and..."

"It's my job. You've read my file right?"

When May doesn't answer and just gives the girl a stern look Buffy huffs, "Look you know about this world and me, I didn't have a choice, it's an urge...but I promise I'll warn you next time before I resort to jumping out a speeding car."

A small smile almost grazes the agent's lips, she was impressed by this girl, she actually reminded her a lot of herself at this age. Maybe that was why she had a protective instinct towards her despite only knowing her a few days.

"Hey!" A man yells as he shines a torchlight at Buffy and May.

Both women turn to face him and he offers them a small smile "Ladies, if you're lookin' for one of those rave parties, I'm afraid you're late. Chased a bunch of kids out of here last night."

May steps forward and forces a smile on her face, making Buffy's eyes widen, it looks so out of place of May's face "Apologies, my step daughter doesn't seem to like following rules."

The man chuckles "That's kids for you. Chased a bunch of them out of here last night."

Buffy smiles "Oh, right, yeah, my fellow raves will be so disappointed. It was my turn to bring the bundt cake."

The man smiles "I suggest you get your girl home, don't want her getting in trouble." He says to May "If it were me I would let you kids do what you want but they just don't pay me enough to argue with the boss, so—"

"Come on Buffy." May says as she tries to pull on the blonde's arm.  
Before they drew any more attention to themselves.

"Already gone." Buffy says but freezes as the security guard's voice catches her attention "Oh, hey. Hold it, miss. Take you, uh, whatever this is with ya." He says as he hands Buffy a yellow glowing orb.

Buffy takes the orb and looks at it intently "Thank you." She says as she continues to stare at the ball in her hands.

"Glo balls, huh? I swear, I don't get your generation."

May smiles at the man, playing up the sweet Step-mother "You and me both, Buffy come on we better get home."

Buffy nods and the two turn and head down the street, instantly the smile falls from May's face as she glances at Buffy "What is that thing?"

"Not sure. I'll let you know as soon as I figure it out."

* * *

Malibu, California

"I'm surprised you could keep your mouth shut." Natasha says to Tony the moment Pepper left the office, the annoyance was evident on her face, she was getting really sick of taking care of the drunk Stark, it wasn't fair that Melinda got to go with Buffy.

Tony merely leans forward in his seat "Boy, you're good. You are mind-blowingly duplicitous. How do you do it? You just tear things - you - you're a triple impostor; I've never seen anything like you.

Natasha glares at him "Says the man with a super-powered daughter!"

Tony shrugs, he didn't see her point there that subject was just pure awesomeness in his book "Yeah but she's part me so of course she would be awesome. So back to you, is there anything real about you? Do you even speak latin?"

"Fallces sunt rerum species." She responds as she heads towards the door.

Tony turns in his chair to watch her "Which means? Wait. What? What did you just say?"

Natasha glances back at him, for a man with a supernatural daughter who mumbled latin in her sleep, he really hadn't learnt anything "It means you can either drive yourself home or I can have you collected. Warning it won't be the little blonde that collects you. She's currently tied up."

As Natasha slams the door shut behind her, Tony's eyes widen "Wait what?!"

Tony grabs his phone and quickly dials the phone in a panic _"Stark Residence how may I direct your call?"_ Jarvis asks politely, Tony sighs "Jarvis where's Buffy?"

 _"An Agent Melinda May from S.H.I.E.L.D came to collect her and took her to Sunnydale for the next 48 hours."_

Tony's eyes widen "And you didn't tell me this why!"

 _"Miss Summers Stark permitted that you didn't need to know, she believes she will be fine."_

Tony sighs and hangs up the phone in frustration before yelling loudly in annoyance "Dammit Buffy. Why did you have to be some much like me." He mumbles before slamming his head on the desk.  
After a long beat Tony stands grabbing the box of strawberries and dumps them in the trash; he is about to head for the door when something catches his eye.

* * *

Sunnydale, California – {The Next day}

Buffy and May enter the Magic Box only to pause at the entrance, as there standing in the middle of the room, was Giles, in a Magician outfit with a point hat on his head. He looked completely ridiculous.

Giles merely stands there smiling, while Buffy and May stare at him, both trying to stifle their laughs.  
Slowly the smile falls from his face and removes the hat and gown.

At that moment, the door opens and Buffy rolls her eyes at the sight of her younger sister running into the room "I told you you couldn't ditch me." Dawn says breathlessly.

Buffy sighs "I hate your dad. I don't have time to babysit you Dawn, so just sit and don't touch anything."

May watches the sisters arguing in amusement before she and Buffy approach Giles, slowly the Watcher turns his gaze to the small agent "Rupert Giles." He says as he holds out his hand for her to shake.

May simply glances at his hand before looking back up at him "Agent Melinda May. S.H.I.E.L.D"

Buffy sighs at the robotic answer "May, I got this, go wonder around or something, don't scare anyone."  
May stares at the girl for a moment before slowly back away and making her way around the store.

"S.H.I.E.L.D?" Giles asks Buffy as May wonders around the store.

Buffy shakes her head "Government agency my grandfather was apparently a founder of. Anyway their director got some news saying something big was going on down here, so he sent Mrs I never change my facial expression, down with me."

Giles nods still slightly stunned by everything he was hearing "Something big then. Any idea what it is?"

Buffy shakes her head "Nada but I got 48 hours before Mrs SHIELD agent drags me back to Malibu."

Giles nods "Alright, well I will start..."

At that moment the door opens again and in walks a very ecstatic Willow "Giles, where's your hat and cloak?" The witch quickly brightens up even more as she spots her best friend "Buffy!" She yells as she runs over and hugs her tightly "So much better than a clock and hat."

"Yeah, the hype was out of control." Riley says as he appears behind her.

Buffy hugs Willow tightly before she turns around and faces her boyfriend who just smiles at the sight of her "Buffy."

"That's me." She says.

Riley walks over to her and kisses her, as he pulls away he grins down at her "What are you doing here...not that I'm not happy to see you."

Buffy chuckles and pecks him again before smiling brightly "Nice save. Big bad apparently gonna appear, so I'm here to deal before heading back to Malibu to save my dad."

"Well I'm glad you here." Willow says with a little jump before turning to her best friend, so happy to have her back, even if it was just for a couple days "Anything we can do to help."

Buffy reaches into her bag and pulling out the orb before turning to Giles "Actually, I have a little scooby-centric deal to deal with. Might have to do with the reason I'm here."

"Buffy." Riley whispers.  
"Yeah."

"Whose that?" He asks gesturing to May who was currently watching them all from the other side of the room.

Buffy sighs "My babysitter apparently and slight stalker."

Riley just raises an eyebrow at her and is about to ask again, but the blonde's attention is drawn to Giles who was staring at the ball in amazement.

"What the hell is it?" Buffy asks him as she plays with it.

Giles looks at the orb intently "It appears to be paranormal in origin."

"How can you tell?" Willow asks.  
"Well, it's so shiny."  
Buffy raises an eyebrow before continuing "Found it on my way into town last night."

"May be more where that came from." Riley points out "I say we go back out again tonight."

"Buffy." May says as she approaches the group "Fury said this is for you. Not civilians. I will go with you."  
"But—"

May glares at the young girl, honestly it felt like she was getting scalded by her mother right now, causing Buffy to nod, before sending an apology look to Riley "She's right. I should go alone."

"It's not like you can patrol anyway." Dawn says as she appears from behind one of the shelfs "Buffy said."

"Not I didn't." Buffy panics, she was gonna kill her sister.

"You said it's be easier if you didn't have to look out for anybody."

Buffy glares at her younger sister, willing her to shut the fuck up"Well, I wasn't talking about Riley."

Riley nods, his pride hurt "Don't worry about it."

Dawn pipes in again "Oh, she just said you look even cuter when you're all weak and kitteny, and she'd better go solo, or you'd get hurt. At least with the agent woman she gets paid for this."

"Dawn!" Buffy exclaims, "Go away."

* * *

Malibu, California

Tony swings the hammer at the wall repeatedly for several minutes before dropping the hammer to the ground exhausted "Buff man why couldn't you leave the super strength here." He moans wishing that his daughter hadn't decided that now was the time to take off and not answer his calls.

Tony drills through the floor in the living room before throwing a load of wires down the hole back down into the garage.

As Tony continues to put the parts together to create this new element in walks Agent Coulson "I heard you broke the perimeter."

"And I heard one of your suits took my daughter, so guess we're even. Anyway that was, like, three years ago, Where you been?"  
"I was doing some stuff."

"Yeah, well, me, too, and it worked. Hey, I'm playing for the home team, Coulson, you and all your fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. Now, are you gonna let me work or break my balls?"

At that moment Coulson who had been wondering around picks up a metal shield resembling the original shield used by Captain America "What's this doing here?"

Tony turns to face Coulson, the wheels spinning in his head as everything clicks together on how to do what he needed to "That's it. Bring that to me."

* * *

Sunnydale, California

"Buffy come along. We should be heading out now." May says later that night as the two of them head for the front door.

Buffy rolls her eyes and salutes the Agent "Aye, Aye, Captain."

Buffy follows May out of the house however as they enter the front yard both women freeze. Both of them glance at each other before nodding.

Slowly Buffy moves one way around the nearby tree while May moves around the back; before Buffy can do anything she hears a scuffle and suddenly finds Spike dumped at her feet "Who the bleeding hell are you?" He demands off the agent.

May merely ignores him and glances over at Buffy "You know him?"

"Unfortunately." Buffy yanks Spike off the ground and glares at him "Spike don't take this the wrong way—" Suddenly she punches him in the face.

"Ow! Nice to see you too." He says as he clutches his nose.  
Buffy rolls her eyes "What are you doing here?"  
"Look-"  
"Five words or less."

Spike raises his hand towards her and counts his words with his fingers "Out...for...a...walk." He pauses "Bitch."

"We don't have time for this." May pipes in.

Buffy sighs "I got it." She says before turning back to Spike and staring at him in disbelief "Out for a walk at night by my house at the exact time I'm back from Malibu. No one has time for this, William."

"On your merry way then." He scoffs as he wipes the blood from his nose "You know, contrary to one's self-involved world view, your house happens to be directly between...parts...and parts of this town. Plus how am I supposed to know when your pop into town again. And I would pass by in the day, but I feel I'm outgrowing...my whole 'burst into flame' phase."

May raises an eyebrow before glancing at the blonde "He's a...?"  
"Yep."  
May just stares at her baffled "And you're not killing him because...?"

"He's impotent." Buffy says with a small smirk.  
"Hey!" Spike exclaims.

Buffy rolls her eyes "Spike just get out of here. Keep going, I cut you a break."

"Yeah, okay. Let me guess. You won't kill me? Ooh! The whole crows-leasing threats and swagger routine. Outstandingly original. You know, I'm just passing through."

"Does he ever shut up?" May asks.

"Feel free to borrow Mr Pointy and put him out of his misery."

"I'm gone." Spike says with a chuckle before glancing at Buffy "You know, I really hope you're satisfied. 'Cause god knows you need some satisfaction in life...besides shagging captain cardboard and—and I never really liked you anyway, and—and you have stupid hair." Spike looks at her nervously before quickly walking off.

"Buffy." May says drawing the blonde's attention "He's been here a while." She says gesturing to the many put out cigarettes on the floor.

"That's just creepy."


	13. Chapter 13

Malibu, California

Tony blasts his music as he approaches the wheel he had set up to try and move the energy towards the crystal in the centre of the room and grabs a hold preparing the begin.  
 _"Approaching maximum power."_ Jarvis informs him as the blue lights continue to hit the crystal in the middle of the large device Tony has created.

Tony's arms shake due to the pressure on the wheel so he grabs the wrench and places it on, trying to force the crystal to turn. As his arms shake he groans, where the hell was his daughter when he needed her. He really needed her super strength.  
As it shifts one of the blue lights moves and hits the back wall causing it to start a small fire and leave burns in the concrete, he winces at that as he realises that it had even caused one of Buffy's favourite paintings to go up in flames, oh he was so dead "Buffy's gonna kill me." He mutters.

As the light cuts through a set of metal shelfs as well as several other things. Tony finally manages to get it to stop on it's main target.  
He holds it there wincing as the blue light increases.

After a moment it stops and he grins "That was easy." He says as he makes his way over to the now glowing triangle figure in the middle of the room. He had done, he had actually done it, it was unbelievable.

Slowly he removes the triangle figure from the metal holding it and gazes at it in amazement _"Congratulations, sir. You have created a new element."_

* * *

Sunnydale, California

Buffy yanks the metal chain off the gate snapping it in two with ease "You ready?" She asks May as the two stand side by side outside the warehouse they had come to the other night.  
May nods, before groaning as she and the 19-year-old Slayer begin walking towards the building, still not happy with the fact that she was in the field, she just hoped she wouldn't have to do anything she regretted.

The two women make their way into the building both of them pausing as they approach the large metal door. As they stare at the door they both let out stunned breaths, the door had been completely crushed and ripped to shreds, May glances at Buffy in shock, in all her years she had only seen something like this once, and it hadn't exactly ended well "What ever this is...It's strong." May realises.

"Clearly." Buffy responds with a worried sigh before she hesitantly takes a step into the room "Well better get this over with. Who knows what Dad has gotten himself into."

May shakes her head in amusement trying to hold back the laugh threatening to escape her, before she follows the blonde, keeping a hand hovering over her gun.

The two women make their way into the room cautiously, however almost immediately they spot a man in brown robs tied to a chair bleeding.

"Whoa." Buffy says as she quickly runs over.

As Buffy attends to the man May reaches for her comms "We're gonna need a med team here stat."

"It was you who planted the Dagon Sphere, right?" Buffy asks the man as she yanks on his ropes trying to free him as quickly as possible, causing May to turn her attention back to the blonde.  
"Don't worry I'm stronger than I look." Buffy continues to joke trying to cheer the injured man up, or at least distract him from his pain.

May looks down at the girl as she continues to untie him from the binds.

"A med team will meet us outside in 10. He'll be okay." May assures the blonde.

Buffy nods "Good." She then turns back to the man "I've had experience with stuff like this before. Best of all..." Buffy stands turning around and wrapping her hand around another blonde's throat, who had been trying to sneak up on her "...I'm not stupid."

The curly haired blonde merely grins before removing Buffy's hand and backhanding her, sending the blonde flying into the back wall, leaving a massive crack in the wall.

"Buffy!" May yells before turning on the woman, she was in shock, her senses were normally amazing but somehow she hadn't heard this woman.

"You sure about that last part?" The woman asks.

May on instinct runs at her throwing her fist at the women, she tries to go in for a spinning kick however the woman merely grabs May's leg looking at her with an annoyed expression, making May's eyes widen, who the hell was this woman?  
"Seriously are you both this stupid?" She says before throwing May across the room, causing the agent to roll on the floor before bashing into one of the walls painfully.

May looks up to see Buffy yet again being thrown into a wall as the woman in the red dress approaches her "And another thing—" The woman says as she strides towards Buffy "I just want you to know—this whole beat ya to death thing I'm doing'?" She says before kneeing Buffy in the stomach and punching her in the face again "It's valuable time out of life that I'm never gonna get back."

Buffy swings her leg out but the woman merely ducks before grabbing both of Buffy's arm and forcing them down painfully "Wait. I've always wanted to try this. You know that thing with worms...where if you have one, you rip it in half and you get two worms?"

As the woman continues Buffy, who was grunting in pain glances over at May and gestures to the man in the robs.  
May nods and moaning slightly as she stands silently makes her way over to the man and begins untying the rest of their binds.

Buffy headbutts the woman in the face, causing her to stumble back before staring in shock "You hit me! What are you, crazy?"

As the woman continues to talk Buffy continues to kick and punch her, again and again, but it wasn't even slowing the curly haired demon woman down.  
Suddenly as Buffy swings out her fist the woman grabs it, she was clearly done with this "Fine. Be that way."

She grabs Buffy by the neck causing her to gasp for breath as the other woman begins cutting off her circulation "I just noticed something." The woman says with a sadistic smile "You have super powers. That is so cool. Can you fly?"

"No." Buffy says "But I do have this." Buffy grabs the small metal baton currently attached to her side, she then presses on the button and sends a red shockwave of electricity towards the woman sending her flying.  
As her hold on Buffy disappears Buffy drops to the ground and gasps loudly as she finally finds herself able to breath again. Slowly she looks down at her baton and smiles "Thank you dad." She whispers before standing and running over to May.

"That's not fair." The woman yells as she stands, Buffy considers going after her but instead she turns to help May grab the man from his chair.

"Hey!" The woman yells "Hey, hands off my holy man."

The woman starts running, as do Buffy and May. They both hold onto the man before diving out of the window.

As they fall Buffy through the air, glass shattering around them, Buffy manoeuvres the two so she takes the blunt of the force from the fall.  
Ignoring her own injuries the blonde Slayer stands as does May, only with a slight limp.

The two grab the holy man and try to drag him, however he is weak and quickly fading.

"Stop, please." The man begs.  
"Medics will be here in 5 minutes." May assures him "You're going to be fine."  
Buffy nods "We have to keep going."

The man however drops as they reach the fence, he knew this was the end, and he needed to tell the Slayer the truth and now "My journey is done, I think."

Buffy looks down at him in a panic, she had just saved him he couldn't die, she had questions about that woman she needed answered and he was her only link "Don't get metaphor-y on me. We're going. The nice agent people are gonna fix you up real nice."

Buffy tries to pull him up but he pulls her back down "Uh, you have to—the key. You must protect the key."  
Buffy frowns in confusion, he was speaking like a crazy person right now "Fine. We can protect the key together, okay? Just far, far from here."

May nods "She may have survived that, we need to move."  
The man shakes his head "Many more die...if you don't keep it safe."

"How? What is it?" Buffy asks confused.

"Miss Summers, we don't have time for this." May tells her.

"Give me a sec." Buffy tells her before turning to the man, she could only focus on one conversation at a time.  
"The key is energy." He says weakly "It's a portal. It opens the door."  
Buffy thinks for a split second "The—the Dagon Sphere?"

"No. For centuries, it had no form at all. My brethren, its only keepers. Then...the abomination...found us. We had to hide the key. Gave it form, moulded it flesh, made it human and sent it to you."

Buffy continues to stare in confusion, this wasn't making any sense to her"I'm not getting it. What? Who did you send to me?"

"Buffy." May tries again but the blonde is too involved in the conversation, making May sigh, they didn't have time for this.

"She's the key." The man tells Buffy.  
"Who?" Buffy asks confused.  
"We knew the slayer would protect. Protect family."

Buffy's eyes widen as she thinks, thinks back to the odd feeling she had been getting for months, about her sister "Dawn...You put that in my house."  
The man nods "You would protect."  
"My memories. My mom's, dad's."  
"We built them."  
"Then unbuild them." Buffy says angrily "This is my life you're—"

The man coughs, cutting Buffy off "You cannot abandon."  
"I didn't ask for this." She says her voice shaking, she didn't want this, she had already had so much forced on her, she couldn't handle this as well "I don't even know—what is she?"

"Human. Now human...and helpless. Please. She's an innocent in this. She needs you."

"She's not my sister." Buffy says, her heart breaking slightly.

"She doesn't know that."

Buffy watches the man however as he stops breathing May grabs her arm "Buffy, we have to go. Now!"

* * *

The Next Day

"Fury sent a team to watch her." May tells Buffy, as they stand outside The Magic Box with Giles, the second the two had come back yesterday the first thing they had done was talk to Giles about a game plan, they had to protect Dawn.  
No matter what.

"Is that going to be enough?" Giles asks as he glances back at the door to make sure no one was coming out, they couldn't risk anyone else finding out about this "I mean if this woman is as powerful as you say—"

May cuts him off "It's only temporary. They will monitor Dawn, make sure no one finds out the truth. Fury says we will get her out of there if anyone finds out. She'll be safe."

Buffy hesitates, she looks through the window where she could see Dawn sitting at one of the tables talking to Willow "I don't know about leaving her here. What if something goes wrong? He said I had to protect her."

"Buffy." May starts before hesitantly placing a comforting hand on the Slayer's arm, she knew Buffy was worried about her sister, and her worry about her sister was now fighting with her worry over her father, so she offered her a small sense of relief, even if it was only temporary "We have the best of the best watching Dawn, they may not be powerful like you are but they will protect her. I promise you."

Buffy takes a shaky breath but nods at May smiling at the older woman before she turns to Giles with a nervous expression "What do we tell the others?"

"For now, nothing. We can't risk them acting any differently around her." Giles places his hands on Buffy's shoulders "Buffy, we will keep Dawn safe. If anything happens I will contact you immediately."

May nods in agreement "Mr Giles is right Buffy. You will be back in a few days but your father needs your help. We got what Fury sent us for, we need to get back now."

Buffy sighs, she glances back at her sister once more before nodding "Take care of her?" She asks Giles.  
The man nods "Of course."  
"I'll be back as soon as I can, but—"  
"I'll find out what I can on this woman."

Buffy nods and thanks Giles before climbing in the car with May and heading back to Malibu.

Time to save her dad.


	14. Chapter 14

Malibu, California

"Dad?" Buffy calls as she walks down into the garage, glancing around her entire body goes rigid at the sight before her.  
The ceiling was completely collapsed in, glass was all over the floor and parts of the floor were covered in burns while half of the floor had massive holes in it.  
Groaning Buffy shakes her head, she was gonna kill her dad, turning towards him she waves her arms at her now destroyed house "What the hell happened?!"

"Shh!" Tony whispers harshly before turning back to the computer screen "Jarvis?"

 _"Accessing the oracle grid. Eastern Seaboard."_

Buffy sighs and groans at the sight of her carpet "I liked that carpet." She moans before she turns back to her father, prepared to yell at him.  
However before she could speak the next thing she hears makes her freeze

 _"What your father did to my family over 40 years, I will do to you and your daughter in 40 minutes."_

Buffy's eyes widen, that wasn't possible, that couldn't be who she thought it was "Is that who I think it is?"  
Tony nods  
"I thought he was dead."

"Apparently not." Tony says before turning his focus back to the computer "Sounds good. Let's get together and hash it out."

 _"Tri-state area"_ Jarvis tells him as he continues the trace _"Manhattan and outlying boroughs."_

 _"I hope you're ready."_ Ivan says before hanging up.

Buffy groans knowing that this was not gonna be good, quickly she makes her way over to the computer, she needed to find out where this guy was and now, she couldn't risk her dad going after him and getting hurt without her "Jar tell me we got the lunatic."

 _"Sorry Miss Stark. Trace was incomplete."_

Buffy turns to her dad, a panicked expression on her face, she had only been gone two days, how the hell had everything gone to shit so quickly? "What the hell did I miss?"  
Tony turns to her "Vanko's alive."

"Thank you captain obvious." She says with a roll of her eyes.

Tony merely shrugs before grinning at her "Oh and I'm not dying anymore, well I won't be."

Buffy raises an eyebrow, did he seriously just drop at bomb like that on her "Wait, what, huh?"

Tony doesn't answer the blonde he just stares at the computer screen which now had an image of Justin Hammer on the screen.  
Buffy notices the rage in her father's eyes and before she can do anything he stands grabbing the new mini arc reactor and places it in his chest.

"See I'm not dying now."

Buffy just stares at him stunned, despite the fact she was happy to hear that her dad wasn't going to die, she was pretty confused right now "Hold up. Three questions, 1: Vanko is not dead, what the hell? 2: What do you mean your not dying now, what the hell is with the new glow stick in your chest? And 3—"

Tony interjects "Actually technically that would be four."

"Shut it." Buffy orders as she points her finger at him before gesturing to the state of the garage and the massive whole in the ceiling "And 3: What the hell did you do to my house?!"

Tony chuckles nervously at the blonde who was looking at him murderously "Buff, look I know you're a bit confused and a bit pissed off but—"

Buffy's eyes shoot wide open, did he seriously think she was a little pissed, he had lied to her about the fact that he was dying.  
She was beyond fumming, honestly if she wasn't already short on parents she would kill him herself "A bit?! You destroyed my house! Again."

"Well now that I'm not dying it's not gonna be your house."

Buffy rolls her eyes, if he honestly thought this was his house he was wrong, honestly it was more hers and Peppers than anything "Start from the top, cause I've been gone for less than 48 hours and by my calculations you've already done something stupid."

 _"Sir..."_ Jarvis' voice cuts through the air.

Tony glances down to the new arc reactor in his chest "You want to run some tests, run them. And assemble the suit while you're at it. Put it together now. Buffy's too."

 _"We are unclear as to the effects..."_

"I don't want to hear it, Jarvis."  
Suddenly the arc reactor begins the glow very bright just as Tony turns to his daughter, prepared for their dreaded chat "Okay."  
Buffy breaths as she realises that they were gonna have this long conversation right now "My guess this is gonna be some long talk."

* * *

"So Hammer and Vanko?" Buffy asks as she adjusts her wig before glancing at her dad "What are they? The creepy twosome now?"

"Pretty much." Tony nods as the robot arms around him continue to place the suit on him piece by piece.

The Slayer nods before sighing, trying to come up with a game plan in her head as she processes all of this new information "Okay so Hammer plus Vanko equals bad, like end of the world bad. Got it. Now what is with the getup in your chest?" She asks as she walks over and points at the new arc reactor in his chest, honestly she was worried, in the back of her mind all she could imagine was him on his death bed again.

Tony taps the reactor before glancing at her, smiling softly at his kid, knowing that she was worried "This happens to be a 50 year old easter egg from dear old dad. He left it for me, a new element which just happened to be a good replacement."

Buffy shrugs before shaking her head in amusement, her grandad was still messing with them after all these years "Go figure."

Tony steps down from the stand, his suit on, the only thing missing was the mask, "So Sunnydale, what's the big there? Please let it be end of the world type awesome."

Buffy rolls her eyes as she spots the gleeful look on her father's face, honestly it was slightly disturbing that he goes so excited about end of the world situations "Some super strong women, stronger me. Wants something I have."  
"What does she want?"

Buffy sighs as attaches the batons to her side before slipping on her gloves, finally she looks into her father's eyes admitting the horrible truth "Dawn."  
Tony raises an eyebrow "Short stake?"  
Buffy nods "Yeah, turns out she's a big ball of energy, it's really complicated. How bout we save the day, then we'll talk bout it."

"Got it. But still that is awesome, yet so weird."  
Buffy chuckles "Tell me about it."

Buffy slips on her glasses before turning to her dad "You ready?"

"Let's go save the word."

"I have dibs on kicking Hammer's ass first, perve hits on me too much." Buffy says with a groan as she remembers the many many incidents where that had occurred, honestly that man needed every square inch of his ass kicked.

Tony lowers the helmet on his head "Sorry Buff, but I get to hit guys that hit on my daughter."  
Before Buffy can argue Tony takes off into the sky leaving Buffy staring in frustration.

"Son of a—stupid metal wearing, dumbass, dochebag." The blonde mutters as she makes her ways towards her bike "Lead the way Jar."

 _"Yes Miss. I do suggest you hold on, Mr Stark made some adjustments to your bike a few weeks ago."_

Buffy's eyes widen, she couldn't help but groan she had a feeling she really wasn't going to enjoy this ride "I don't like the sound of that."  
Suddenly the bike zooms forward faster than it should possibly be going.

* * *

Tony drops down into the EXPO just in front of Rhodey and Hammer as the crowd cheers behind them.  
Tony turns to Rhodey who was currently on stage wearing his suit "We've got trouble."

"Tony, there are civilians present." Rhodey points out "I'm here on orders. Let's not do this right now."

Tony merely moves to stand next to him before waving at the crowd "Give them a wave."  
As Hammer walks along the stage Tony lowers his voice so only Rhodey can hear "Buff's on her way here, all these people are in danger. We gotta get them out of here. You gotta trust me for the next five minutes. And if not when Buff get's here she can explain but this way is quicker."

Rhodey scoffs, he couldn't seriously be expecting him to take his word on it "I'd rather wait for Buffy. You see last time I tried to trust you I got tossed around your house, remember?"

Tony interjects, the urgency present in his voice "Listen, I think he's working with Vanko."  
"Vanko's alive?"

 _"Yep."_ Buffy says as she communicates over comms, while Tony approaches Hammer.  
"Buff?" Rhodey asks stunned "How did you—"

Buffy ignores his question, she didn't have time to explain how Jarvis hacked into his suit _"Rhodey not the time, look dad is telling you the truth. You've gotta—"_

"Whoa, whoa." Rhodey suddenly says as something starts flashing on the screen in his helmet.

 _"Rhodey—"_ Buffy's eyes widen as she realises someone cut her off.

"Buff?" Rhodey calls as he begins to panic as the gun on his back suddenly take aim.

Tony turns away from Hammer and back to Rhodey "Is that you?"

Rhodey shakes his head "No, I'm not doing that. That's not me...I can't move. I'm locked up. I'm locked up!"

As the drones behind Rhodey start to point their guns at Tony Rhodey panics "Get out of here. Go! This whole system's been compromised."

Tony's eyes widen "Buff? Where are you?"

Suddenly the motorcycle leaps onto stage from the side and Buffy flips into the air before landing on the ground by her father "Present. What happened?"  
"Vanko."

Buffy turns to see the drones, her eyes going wide, looks like it was beginning. She couldn't help but groan, she should have stayed in Sunnydale "Oh dammit."

Tony quickly grabs Buffy's hand and hauls her onto his back before looking down at Rhodey "Let's take this outside." He says before flying up and out of the ceiling.

Buffy clutches onto her father's neck as guns start being fired at them, she winces as she feels a bullet graze her cheek before Tony does a spin making her officially feel sick "And I officially hate flying! I prefer my bike."

Buffy looks down to see Rhodey following them, this wasn't good "Oh no."

 _"Tony, Buffy. Guys I'm locked on. I have a target lock. On the both of you."_

As guns again start firing at them again Tony tries to avoid them.  
Buffy looks back panicked before turning to her dad "I have a stupid idea."

"Buffy no!" He says, immediately able to understand what she's up to.

"I've got a parachute in my suit. I'll be fine. I'm gonna get to Vanko. Can you deal with them?"

Tony hesitates worrying about his girl, but when she gives him her strict look, looking scarily like her mother he groans, "Fine but Buff be careful."  
"Always am."

Buffy then let's go of him she flips through the air and manages to land on Rhodey's back "Buffy! What are you doing?!"

"Something stupid!" She yells "Sorry Rhodey." She says before grabbing onto the machine gun currently firing at her father and tears it in two.

"Gotta go. Don't kill him." She says before jumping off Rhodey's back.

As she dives through the air Buffy attempts to keep from screaming as she tries to converse with her favourite A.I.

"Jar where's Hammer?"

 _"You're closing in on him, Miss. Once you land he is in the basement, bellow the stage."_

Buffy groans as she spots the floor, she was gonna be so banged up tomorrow.  
"Oh this is gonna hurt." She moans as she approaches the expo building, she pulls on her parachute as she lands inside the building before groaning slightly.

Grabbing her knife she cuts herself free of the parachute before it slow her down, sending her speeding downwards towards the floor.

The blonde goes hurling through the floor and lands on the ground painfully right next to Pepper and Natasha in the basement, who were both glaring at Hammer.

Buffy groans as she rolls on her side "Oh, I'm gonna feel that in the morning."  
"What the hell?!" Hammer yells as he jumps in shock.

Buffy ignores the pain most likely caused by the several broken ribs and flips herself up and turns on Hammer, she grabs his arm and twists it behind his back threatening to pull it from place "Ahh!" He yells "What the hell you crazy b—ahh!"

Buffy snaps his arm causing a loud cracking noise to go through the room "Where is he?! Where is Vanko?!" She demands "Tell me or I'm gonna rip something else and it won't be as easily fixable."

Hammer's eyes widen in panic and he quickly succumbs to her demands like a coward "He's at my facility."

Buffy nods "Good." She says before slamming his head on the table breaking his noise and leaving him moaning in agony on the ground.

Buffy turns back to see Pepper and Natasha staring at her.

"Are you okay?" Pepper asks her after finally shaking herself away from her frozen state. The panic and worry was evident in her voice, she was clearly worried about the blonde having seen the injuries.

Buffy nods "I'm good." She then turns to Natasha "Sorry I've wanted to hit him longer."  
Natasha shrugs "No problem but I get the next one."  
"Deal."

Pepper looks between the two of them "Am I missing something?"  
"So much. Explain later." Buffy says with a sigh before turning to Natasha "You know how to get there?"

Natasha nods, "Okay." Buffy says "I'll follow the car. Go now."

Buffy then turns to Pepper "I'll explain later. Love you Pep." She says before kissing Pepper on the cheek and taking off running.

She heads up stairs and grabs her bike from the stage before driving down the stairs.  
As she drives outside she pulls the bike over in front of Happy.

He turns to her and sighs at the look of her "Costume is on. I'm taking that as something is not good."

Buffy nods, before grinning madly at him "Yeah."  
"What's going on?"  
"Get in the car." Natasha says as she approaches the two "Take me to Hammer Industries. Buffy will follow."

Happy shakes his head, he didn't take orders from her, he wanted to know what the hell was going on "I'm not taking you anywhere."  
She turns to him "Fine. You want me to drive?"

Buffy rolls her eyes "Happy." She says sternly.  
The man sighs "I'm driving. Get in the car. Buffy stay close."  
Buffy nods "You got it."

* * *

 _"Buffy! What's going on?!"_ Tony asks the blonde from over comms.

"Me and the red head are one our way to Vanko, the sooner we get there the sonner we can shut these things down."

Tony who is continuing to duck bullets hears Rhodey's warning about some of the drones heading back to the expo _"Alright Buff. Gotta go. See you in a bit."_

As he hangs up Buffy sighs in worry, he had a habit of doing stupid things and she was terrified that he was going to get himself killed.  
Swallowing her worry for the time being as she spots Hammer Industries she allows her mind to focus on the mission at hand.

"Stay in the car." Natasha orders Happy.  
Buffy notices her outfit "Leather sucks right."  
"You got that right." The red head agrees before continuing to argue with Happy.

"I'm not staying in the car." Happy argues before turning to Buffy with a smirk, expecting her to be on his side.

Buffy turns on him and sadly he realises that he was mistaken "Happy stay in the car."

Buffy rolls her eyes as he continues to argue.  
Ignoring him she and Natasha head for the door "You wanna help?" Natasha asks him "Keep the car running."

"Okay." He says before yanking the door open and running in, in front of them.

Buffy rolls her eyes and runs in, while she flips over the security guard that approaches them Natasha dives underneath him. Natasha send two small objects towards the guard electrocuting him while Buffy sends a spinning kick to his chest sending him flying to the ground.

The two nod at each other before taking off in separate directions.

As Buffy turns the corner one of the guards runs at her, the blonde merely steps out of the way and grabs him by the back of the neck before tossing him face first into the wall.

Buffy slides across the floor as another guard approaches her and goes straight through his legs, she comes up behind him in a crouch before running at him, she jumps up and wraps her legs around his head, she then flips herself backwards sending him flying across the room.

Buffy stands to see two more guards approaching her, she runs at them and jumps up in a double split kicking them both in the face.

Buffy turns to see a third guard approach her, she ducks as he goes to punch her, then punches him in the face before dropping to her knees and swinging her leg around catching his ankles sending him crashing to the floor.

Buffy stands only to have a large metal pole hit her in the back, Buffy crashes into one of the walls but is still standing, she turns to see who had hit her "God how many of you are there?" She asks as the guard approaches her.

She steps closer to him and throws a punch which he blocks, he manages to land a jab to her face, but Buffy twists herself around sending her leg swinging around as her body follows it around.

The man stumbles back and Buffy approaches him sending her fist into his jaw causing him to fly upwards into the ceiling before falling back to the ground with a thump.

Buffy turns the next corner to see Natasha run at one of the guards wrapping her legs around his neck before twisting around causing him to land on the ground painfully.

"Nice. Little retro for my taste." Buffy says as she approaches the blonde.

Natasha chuckles "How you are a Stark still amazes me."  
"You and me both sister."

Buffy chuckles but stops as she hears footsteps down the hall "Two more 5 seconds."

"Take my hand." Natasha says, causing Buffy to raise her eyebrow, but Natasha shows her to wire in her hands.

Buffy smirks before taking the red head's hand the two watch as the guards approach them and just as they run at them full speed Buffy and Natasha take several steps away from each other causing the wire in their hands to stretch.

As it does both guards run into the wire and end up flipping through the air before landing painfully on the ground.

"Nice." Buffy breaths as both of her and Natasha move down the hall towards Vanko.

Buffy kicks down the door sending it flying off it's hinges and across the room, Natasha enters the room and pulls out two guns "He's gone."

"Dammit." Buffy breaths in a panic, this wasn't good.  
Buffy presses her comms "Dad?"

 _"Yeah Buff? Now's not a good—"_ There is a loud crashing noise before he continues _"Not a good time."_

"I know." Buffy sighs before glancing around the empty room looking for anything that could tell her where the hell he could have gone "Look Vanko's gone."  
Buffy turns to Natasha "Can you get me a location?"

Natasha nods "Got it." She says as her fingers fly across the keyboard at the computer.

"There." Natasha says as she points to the location on the screen.

Buffy nods "Dad I'm coming to you."

Before her father can argue Buffy turns off her comms and turns to Natasha "See what you can do about Rhodey."

The red head is already ahead of her "I'm rebooting his suit as we speak. Go I got this."

Buffy nods she gives Happy a smile as she makes her way out of the building and jumps on her bike and heading back towards the expo.


	15. Chapter 15

Buffy pulls the bike over at large dome where she had tracked Rhodey and Tony to.  
The current brunette tucks the strands of her wig behind her ear before glancing over at the entrance only to find it destroyed. Buffy couldn't help but groan this wasn't going to be good "Oh dammit. Broken ribs prepare for some friends." She says sadly before she backs the bike up a few paces.

Closing her eyes she huffs in annoyance, this was totally gonna suck "Easy as cake." She mutters in encouragement to herself before she speeds forward, the bike goes full speed through one of the glass walls causing glass to shatter around her as she speeds into the dome.

As she speeds down the hill in the dome, Buffy's eyes widen as the back wheel skids into a nearby pond causing the bike to flip, sending her flying.

"Buffy!" Rhodey and Tony yell as they watch the blonde get thrown from her bike and straight to the ground.

Buffy groans slightly clutching her ribs as she lands on her back "I'm good." She breaths as Tony and Rhodey both appear at her side and help her up.

"Buffy you shouldn't be here." Tony argues, he had a panicked look on his face, the idea of having his daughter in danger scaring him more than anything, she may be a superhero but she was still his little girl.

Buffy shrugs as she prepares her weapons ready for the battle "Well too late. So what do we got?"  
Tony sighs "They're coming in hot, any second." He looks in-between both Buffy and Rhodey "What's the play?"

Rhodey pipes up "Well, we wanna take the high ground, okay. So let's put the biggest gun up on that ridge."

As both men move Buffy shakes her head in amusement and as the two start arguing about who has the bigger gun Buffy merely rolls her eyes "Guys! Have your pissing contest later, kay?"  
"But—" Tony tries to argue but Buffy glares at him causing both him and Rhodey to gulp "Yes, Buffy."  
"Good." The blonde says with a grin.  
"We just can't stay here." Rhodey says "This is the kill box, this is where you go to die."  
Buffy groans, she didn't want to die, especially not if this place was literally a big x on the map for people who wanna die.

Suddenly the three's attention is brought to the large drone as it lands shortly away from them.

Slowly the three move, circling around each other so they were all stood back to back as drones began to surround them, completely outnumbering them.  
"Oh not good." Buffy breaths as she watches the seemingly endless supply of drones drop into the area.  
"You got that right." Tony agrees as both him and Rhodey put their masks back on before the three prepare for the battle ahead of them.

Buffy grabs the batons from her sides and quickly puts them together making it into her bo-staff. It was times like this where she wished she had more gear like her dad's suit, not that she would ever admit that to his face, his ego would sky-rocket.  
The Slayer spins the staff sending the bullets flying at her right back at the drones, knocking them down, one by one.  
Sensing something coming up behind her fast Buffy rolls away just as a missile is sent her way, rolling onto her knees she points the staff at the drone and presses on the button sending a burst of red electricity towards the drone, causing it to combust.

"Dad?!" Buffy yells as she goes back to using the bo staff to dodge bullets.

"Bit busy here Buff." Tony grunts as he takes a hit from another drone.

Buffy rolls her eyes as she twists the staff and sends another burst of electricity at one of the drones "You remember what happened last time you visited me in Sunnydale?"

"Buffy how does this—oh." He chuckles as he finally gets what she means, hurray for father-daughter bonding over trying to kill Dracula "Rhodey cover me."

Rhodey frowns in confusion "Why what are you gonna do?" He asks as he continues to fire at the drones.

"This." Buffy says as she turns the bo-staff back into two before she runs to her dad, he grasps her hand and throws her at one of the drones.

Buffy flips through the air and lands on top of one of the drones, she grabs a hold of it's head, tearing it off before pressing her knuckles against the wires. The gloves her father had designed for her begin sending an electric charge through her gloves and into the drone, causing it to shake violently.

Just as the drone begins to fall Buffy leaps off it and runs at another, she dives under this one and grabs onto one of it's legs. Using most of her strength, she lifts the drone up by it's leg and swings it around knocking down several other drones.

"That's my girl." Tony calls as he ducks a missile, before grinning, he really wished he could video this, his daughter was such a bad-ass, he could make every other lame dad on the planet jealous.

"I'm a badass I know." She says with a smirk before she grabs the batons from her sides and runs at another drone.

A few minutes later Tony's voice cut's through the air, "Rhodey Buffy, get down!"

Both of them duck just as Tony releases red lazers from his suit cutting the rest of the drones in half.

After a beat, Buffy stands and looks around before whistling loudly as the drone graveyard in front of her "That's was different. Oh small little question-Why didn't you do that earlier?!" She yells as she walks back over to the guys.  
Rhodey nods in agreement "Buff's right you should lead with that next time."

Tony rolls his eyes at the two of them, it bugged him when they teamed up on him "Yeah. Sorry, boss 1 and 2. I can only use it once. It's a one-off."  
Buffy groans in annoyance "Why would you make it a one-off? That's pointless."

Tony opens his mouth prepared to sass back at her only for a certain red-headed agent's voice to fill the three's comms.

 _"Heads up."_ Natasha tells the three _"You got one more drone incoming. This one looks different. The repulser signature is significantly higher."_

Buffy looks up in the sky and spots the drone, her eyes widen, that thing was huge, it honestly looked like some form of remake of Obadiah's suit "Different and bigger."

The drone lands with a loud thud but instead of attacking them straight away like the others had done, head rises revealing the smirking face of Vanko.  
"Yeah that's no drone." Buffy mumbles as she tightens her hold on the batons.

Vanko smirks at the three of them "Good to be back."  
"This ain't gonna be good." Rhodey points out.

All three of them stare with wide eyes as Vanko stretches out his arms to release 2 long whips currently being powered by the arc reactor.  
"Oh shit." Buffy breaths, before wincing as she remembers back to having those damn whips wrapped around her "I hate those things."

Rhodey steps forward, moving protectively in front of his God-daughter only making her roll her eyes slightly, it was sweet but silly at the same time.

Rhodey ignores the amused look that Buffy was given him as he focuses on Vanko "I got something special for this guy. I'm gonna bust his bunker with the Ex-Wife."  
"With the what?" Tony asks at the same time that Buffy asks "The what now?"

Buffy and Tony watch as a small missile appears on Rhodey's shoulder before launching itself at Vanko.

However the missile merely bounces off the suit and lands in the water.  
Tony turns to Rhodey "Hammer tech?"  
Rhodey sighs "Yeah."  
"Point of advice." Buffy says "His weapons are as bad as his pick up his lines."

"I got this." Tony says as he takes aim at Vanko, Tony fires several missiles at him however Vanko lowers the helmet back down quickly and the missiles merely bounce off his suit again.  
Buffy groans, this was getting stupid, what was this guy made out of? "Seriously?!"

Vanko merely smirks at the young heiress as he approaches the three and swings out the whips at them. All three dive out of the way.

Vanko quickly rips the gun off Rhodey before tossing Tony into a rock, Buffy runs at Vanko and flips over him, she then switches the batons back into a staff and swings it at him with all her strength sending him flying.

"Strong little girl." Vanko laughs as he stands, spitting the blood from his mouth before swinging the whip at her.  
However Buffy was quicker than him and manages to catch it with the bo-staff. She wraps it around the staff and then spins around sending him flying again.

However, Buffy misses the other whip as it grabs ahold of her ankle, allowing Vanko to launche her at a tree, which break in two as she crashes into it.

Buffy lands on the ground painfully but before she can take a breath her eyes widen as she spots the broken tree about to land on top of her, ignoring the hissing pain coming from her broken ribs the blonde quickly rolls away just narrowly missing getting crushed to death.

As she attempts to catch her breath Buffy sits up wincing harshly in pain, only for all thoughts of her pain to vanish as she spots Tony going up against Vanko, hand to hand.

She slowly tries to stand as Tony struggles, but before she can get to her dad Vanko wraps one of the whips around the neck of the suit. Before trying to crush Rhodey with his foot.

Buffy grabs her staff and sends a red blast as Vanko causing him to stumble slightly, giving Rhodey and Tony a chance to escape the grasp of the whips. For probably the hundredth time in their lives, she was saving their asses.

"Rhodes. I got an idea." Tony tells him "You want to be a hero?"  
"What?" Rhodey asks confused.  
"I could really use a sidekick. Put your hand up."

Buffy stares in confusion, she wasn't getting any of this "What are you doing?"

Tony merely gestures for her to get down, not having time to explain the new plan"Buffy get down!"

Buffy stares at them both confused before diving behind one of the large boulders, allowing it to protect her body from whatever the hell the two adults were planning.

Peeking around the boulder she watches as her dad and God-father raise their hands at each other, as though they were about to battle.

"This is your idea?" Rhodey asks in disbelief.  
"Yep."  
"I'm ready, Im ready. Go. Go. Go!"

Suddenly both men send power bursts of energy at each other like they did during their fight at the beach house.

Buffy's eyes widen as she realises what was about to happen, quickly ducking down the boulder seemingly isn't as strong as she thought as she is sent flying and smashes her head, sending her straight to darkness.

* * *

Buffy opens her eyes and groans slightly "Ow." She moans as she sits up, she looks down to see blood on the rock where her head had clearly bashed into. Touching her head she flinches slightly, she honestly couldn't even begin to guess the amount of bruises she was going to have tomorrow. Sighing she uses her bo-staff to pull herself up before limping around the boulder.

"Dad? Rhodey?" She calls.

Tony spots Buffy and quickly walks over to her "Buff." He says as he hugs her "You okay?" He asks as he spots the blood covering majority of the right side of her face.  
"Just peachy." She chuckles sarcastically as she walks with him over to Rhodey, allowing her dad to take most of her body weight, and keep her upright.

Slowly the three move towards the psycho together and glare down at him. However instead of looking defeated like they all expected Vanko merely grins up at them "You lose."

The three of them stare in confusion before suddenly his suit starts flashing red and beeping.

Buffy's eyes widen and she looks around to see all of the drones now beeping and shining red "Not good."

"All these drones are rigged to blow. We gotta get out of here, man." Rhodey says as he grabs Buffy and lifts her into his arms.  
Tony's eyes widen "Pepper."  
"Dad go, now!" Buffy exclaims.

The three of them then take off, Rhodey taking Buffy while Tony goes after Pepper, just explosions begin going off around them.

* * *

Rhodey and Buffy land on the roof to see Tony and Pepper kissing, Buffy despite being happy about this given she had been pushing it for years couldn't help but groan. It was still nasty watching her dad make out with someone, wasn't she scarred enough? "Yew. Can I be blind."  
Rhodey chuckles before glancing at Buffy "I think it's weird."

Tony and Pepper pull away from each other startled and turn to the two of them.

"You guys look like two seals fighting over a grape." Rhodey continues.  
Buffy nods in agreement, smirking slightly "I'm not gonna have to see this all the time when I come home now am I? Cause that's a big ew in my book."

Pepper turns to them "I had just quit, actually."  
Tony nods "Yeah, so we're not—"  
"You don't have to do that." Rhodey tells them.  
"You didn't think we would eavesdrop?" Buffy asks them, smirking.

Tony glares at Rhodey "You should get lost."

Rhodey raises his hands in surrender "Oh, I'm sorry figured you'd want your daughter back. But why don't you too go get a roof."  
Tony chuckles "I thought you were out of one liners."  
"That's the last one."

Tony shakes his head in amusement before looking in-between Buffy and Rhodey "You kicked ass back there, by the way."  
Rhodey nods "Thank you. You too."  
"Actually I was talking to Buffy, but you—you did okay too."

Buffy chuckles slightly, she loved watching them torture each other, it was better than cable "Yeah, Rhodey you did just fine." She laughs as she taps his chest sweetly.

"You're both hilarious." He says sarcastically, clearly unamused "Look, my car was taken out during the explosion so I'm gonna have to hang on to your suit for a minute, okay?"

Tony shakes his head, totally not gonna happen, not in a million years "Not okay. Not okay with that."  
"It wasn't a question." Rhodey says before taking off.

Tony turns to Buffy before a certain discussion he had yet to have with her pops into his head, now seemed like no better time than ever "Now that's dealt with, what were we discussing about your spring break at the house."

Buffy gulps "Don't know what you're talking about."

* * *

One Week Later

Tony looks down at the Avengers Initiative preliminary report only to have Fury take it off him, making him frown, he didn't like people just taking things out of his hands.  
"I don't think I want you looking at that." Fury says as he sits opposite Tony "I'm not sure it pertains to you any more. Buffy yes, you no. Where is she anyway?" The Director of Shield asks as he glances around the empty room, he had expected Buffy to be here.

Tony rolls his eyes, what was it with suits and the obsession with his kid "Something something Sunnydale. You should be happy you're the one that wanted her there. What's that?" He asks as Fury raises another file.

Fury glances at the file "This? This is Agent Romanoff's assessment of you." He says as he hands Tony the file "Read it."

Tony takes the file with a grin and opens it skimming through it "Ah, personality overview. Mr Stark displays compulsive behaviour." The billionaire frowns "In my own defence, that was last week."  
When Fury doesn't change his expression Tony rolls his eyes before continuing to read, with each word though his ego got another hit "Prone to self-destructive tendencies."  
Tony turns back to Fury "I was dying." He argues. "I mean, please. And aren't we all?"

Tony again turns back to the file in frustration, this had to be a joke right? "Textbook Narcissism?" Pausing he sighs, okay that one was fair "Agreed. Okay here it is. Recruitment assessment for Avenger Initiative. Iron Man? Yes."  
Tony places the file down with a grin "I got to think about it."

Fury merely smirks at the smug billionaire "Read on."

Tony looks back down at the file "Tony Stark not...not recommended? That doesn't make any sense. How can you approve me but not approve me? I got a new ticker. I'm trying to do right by Pepper and Buffy speaking of where is Buffy's report."

Fury stands "Miss Summers' report was glowing, Agent Romanoff says she is the ideal candidate for the team. Never seen Romanoff that complimenting either. She just still can't figure how in the hell that girl is related to you."

Fury sits down on the edge of the table next to Tony who was mopping like a child now "At this point we may want your daughter but you, we'd only like to use you as a consultant."

Tony stands and shakes Fury's hand, there was no way in hell he was going to let another government agency try and run his daughter around, especially if he couldn't be there to protect her "You can't afford me. Or Buff. Plus good luck getting her without me, she doesn't play well with government."  
Tony turns his back on Fury and starts to head for the door but pauses to turn back to the Director, Buffy would totally be up for what he was planning "Then again, I will waive my customary retainer in exchange for a small favour. I'll even talk to Buff for you."

Fury tilts his head in interest "Rhodey and I are being honoured in Washington and we need a presenter."

Fury nods "I'll see what I can do."

* * *

Sunnydale, California

Buffy leans against the couch as Riley applies a bandage to her stab wound, she couldn't believe that she had lost against some average terrible dressed vamp. She was in the best shape of her life, she just couldn't understand how this was possible.  
"I can't believe I passed out." Buffy moans as she watches him apply the dressing "I can fight off giant robots and be thrown off twenty story building and keep fighting with several broken ribs yet I pass out from one little stab wound. So you think I'm a total wuss now?"

Riley continues to help her as he speaks "Oh yeah, I like a girl who can play a few hard set of tennis with a major stab wound."

Buffy frowns and glances down at her wound curiously "You said it wasn't that bad."  
"I've said I've seen worse. There's a difference." He tells her as he finishes off the bandage.

Buffy slowly sits up, wincing slightly as she does, it was annoying to get injured again so soon after her first set of injuries had healed "Well, at least no major organs got kabobed."  
"I still think you need to see a real doctor. Your ribs are still healing from the battle last week, now this..."

Buffy shakes her head "That would put me in a real hospital, which would get my real dad real freaked out. I can't do it. Don't worry. Accelerated healing powers come with the slayer package."  
Noticing her boyfriend's worry Buffy places a hand on Riley's cheek "And the boyfriend who comes complete with combat medical training? That's just a Buffy Summers Bonus."  
As the two smile at each other, enjoying one of their rare moments together, a sudden though hits Buffy completely shattering the moment "Oh crap."

"What?"

Buffy doesn't answer she just grabs the remote and switches on the TV and chuckles slightly "Dumbass, had to have the last laugh." She says as she watches Senator Stern speak about her Dad and Rhodey. It was really some weird form of karma.

 _"It is my honour to be here today to present these distinguished awards to Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes and Mr Tony Stark, who is, of course, a national treasure."_

Buffy chuckles as she watches the Senator force a smile on his face before giving both Tony and Rhodey their awards.

If there was one thing she knew for sure about her father, he truly was a nutcase.


	16. Chapter 16

**SURPRISE YES ANOTHER CHAPTER. This one is the last chapter though.**

 **I love you all and can't wait to see you all for part 3.**

* * *

One Month Later

As he continues to work on the next upgrade for his suit Tony glances over at the glass door to the garage, Buffy had gone back to Sunnydale a month ago now and he was starting to go stir crazy without her here. It was just too quiet.

Groaning he stares at the designs in front of him, wondering whether or not he would be able to sneak fly gear into Buffy's next suit without her noticing.

At the thought of his daughter his phone givens ringing, frowning he grabs it off the work bench before grinning at the sight of his daughter's name.

"Hey Buff." Tony says gleefully as he answers the phone "How you doing?"

Tony expecting a crack joke or some form of sarcasm freezes as instead he is met with silence. Buffy was deadly silent which just made him worry, he could feel it, something was wrong "Buff. What is it?"

 _"Riley."_ She says slowly as she finally speaks, her voice coming out as nothing more than a soft whisper, as though it was difficult to speak _"He left."_

"What?" Tony asks in confusion, what the hell did that mean? He had met the boy, the solider boy was whipped, he wouldn't just take off.

 _"Riley left me, Dad. I found him letting a vamp drink from him then we fought, he gave me an ultimatum and he left."_

Tony's eyes widen before he feels his blood boiling and his eyes begin glazing over in rage, he was gonna kill that stupid G.I Joe "No one hurts my little girl. That's it. I'm gonna find him. I'm sure that tracer should still work—"

 _"When did you put a tracer on him?!"_ She yells suddenly making him freeze, probably not the best time to let her in on that little detail.

He flinches slightly "The last time I was in Sunnydale." He says hesitantly.

 _"And this is why you're not allowed in Sunnydale."_

Tony chuckles before turning back into the sympathetic father "Are you okay Buff? Do you need anything?"

 _"I'll—I'll be okay. I just—Is that what's gonna keep happening to me—is every guy gonna leave. What if I don't get another good one?"_

Tony smiles as he turns in his seat, despite wanting the whole of the male species to stay away from his daughter, if there was one thing he knew it was that his daughter would find someone most probably just as selfless and heroic as her and fall madly in love. One other thing he knew though, is that he was probably gonna hate the guy "Buff, you're my daughter, we're Starks, we only get the best of the best so don't worry bout it."

Buffy smiles _"Thanks dad."_ She pauses before yelling something in the background, resorting in a sort of screaming match before she returns to the call _"Crap I gotta go, Dawn's doing something stupid again. Bye."_

* * *

One Month Later

Buffy looks down at all her gifts joyfully, it was so weird to believe she was 20 now, she was just a year off of publicly having to announce her status with Stark Industries, but for today she was actually going to try and enjoy her birthday. Hopefully it wouldn't go as badly as the last two Pulling open the small box Tara and Willow had given her, her eyes fill with glee at the stunning silk top inside "Oh! It's beautiful. Thank you, guys."

Tara smiles "We thought you get lots of crossbows and other killy stuff."  
Willow nods in agreement "Yeah, so we figured less killy, more frilly."

Buffy smiles, loving the fact that she had indeed gotten something more for her girly side then her Slayer half, it was a nice change, not that she didn't love the killy stuff.

She opens her mouth to speak only to groan as she hears groaning coming from the laptop in front of her where her father was currently struggling to see the gift.

 _"Turn the screen! I can't see."_ Tony moans as he skypes with the group, still annoyed by the fact that Pepper was making him go to this tech conference in Spain instead of spending the day with his daughter on her 20th birthday. Although the fact that she was now 20 just made him feel really old.

Buffy rolls her eyes and turns the screen "Happy dad?"

Tony grins _"Very. You know I could still fly back from Spain and come see you."_  
Buffy shakes her head "You are not leaving Pepper in Spain alone, so just observe and less complaining."

 _"Fine but no matter what you lot get her I'm still gonna win. Actually I already have. I got the Impala upgraded for you, a special Stark upgrade with plenty of space for both the killy and frilly stuff. All though the killy stuff is better. It will be with you tomorrow. Plus I fixed your bike, it's got a bunch of new upgrades."_

Buffy's eyes widen, he was truly still able to surprise her, smiling brightly she couldn't help but be excited like a small child on Christmas "Dad that's too much I can't—"

 _"It's your 20th birthday kid, I'm not gonna skimp, plus as a favour to me we are just gonna pretend you are younger so I don't feel so old."_

Buffy chuckles and shakes her head in amusement, she should have assumed there would be a catch "Thank you."

"Here." Dawn says drawing everyone's attention as she stands and walks over to Buffy "Open mine."

Buffy looks at the gift suspiciously, she knew her sister well enough to not trust anything handed to her, plus she just didn't like being handed things in the first place "It's not gonna explode, is it?"  
When Dawn glares Buffy sighs and cautiously opens the gift, only to find herself nearly brought to tears at the sight of the framed photo of herself, Dawn and her mom "It's when we visited my dad that summer in San Diego. Um, I put the shells on it myself. We picked them off the beach."

Buffy looks at the photo sweetly, tearing up slightly as her heart filled "I remember."

The tone of the room changes and Dawn looks around confused "Well, geez, don't get all movie-of-the-week. I was just too cheap to buy you a real present."

Buffy smiles and hugs her sister "Thank you."

* * *

3 Weeks Later

After what had happened with another failed birthday and Dawn finding out the truth about being the Key, Buffy was now stuck with a new horror. One which was arguably much..much worse. Like even worse then end of the world bad.

Spike was in love with her.

Buffy groans again at the thought before glancing over at Willow who smiles awkwardly while Tony who was on skype again, as he was now in Milan with Rhodey working on some new tech, remains completely frozen. His mouth gapping open as he remains in shock.

Willow looks over at Buffy "Well, he—he actually told you? He said, I love you?"

Buffy interjects just hating even having that worse associated with her and Spike "Well, I didn't let him get that far, but I could see the words coming."

Tony shakes his head, he just couldn't believe this, it was insane _"Wait so the bleached Billy Idol weirdo impotent vamp, is in love with you?"_ Suddenly Tony bursts out in laughter making Buffy glare at him _"This is hilarious Buff."_

"It's not funny." She hisses in annoyance before groaning and leaning back in her chair "It's iky."

Tony chuckles again before trying to act serious _"Did you send him any I want a crazy ass freak to love me type signals?"_

Buffy thinks for a moment, she was pretty sure telling him to go die and punching him in the face would be clear enough, but apparently not "Well...I do beat him up a lot. For Spike, that's like third base."

Tony groans _"Didn't need to know that."_  
Willow turns to the blonde "Buffy, um, I'm really worried."  
 _"Me too in the worried club."_ Tony says _"I say I fly on over and just obliterate him, I'm working on creating a sort of ultraviolet bomb thing for the suit and for your staff. Poof creepy face guys gone in 10 secs flat."_

Buffy smiles at the thought, that did sound pretty awesome, but for now she needed to be the one to deal with Spike "Dad, as awesome as that is and I will want that. I mean, as long as it's still "chips ahoy" in Spike's head, he can't hurt me or any of us. You know, besides, this'll probably just blow over. You know? It's just some weird Spike thing, he'll have the hots for some gak demon before we know it."

 _"Again I say just obliterate him."_ Tony says, making his distaste for the British vampire clear for everyone to see.

"Maybe your dad is right." Willow says "I mean these things can—can become pretty twisted. You made it clear, right? That it could never happen. That there's no possible way ever."

Buffy nods as horrible thoughts of all the possible situations now being to run through her head "Yeah. I—I think so."  
Tony chuckles again _"You are so my kid."_

"Shut it."

* * *

4 months Later – Sunnydale, California

Buffy glances back at the energy portal that was opening just ahead of them, reigning destruction around the town of Sunnydale, this was the end, she could feel it. But one thing she knew was that Dawn was not going to die, she couldn't lose her sister, she wouldn't survive it. "Go!" Buffy tells her refusing to let Dawn by her.

Dawn just stares behind the blonde watching as demons begin flying out of the energy "Buffy, it's started."

Buffy takes a deep breath and glances back once more watching as cautious begins in Sunnydale.

* * *

Malibu, California

 _"Mr Stark, there is something going on in Sunnydale. A number of distress calls have been made to the police, even more than normal."_

Tony shoots up from his seat, his father instincts kicking in straight away, he knew things were bad in Sunnydale but Buffy had left him out of the loop not wanting him to get hurt which only made him monitor the town more closely "Get me a view. Find Buffy."

As Jarvis shows him the images of the destruction currently happening in Sunnydale, he begins to panic "She didn't, she didn't call me. She's trying to protect me dammit! Where is she Jarvis?!"

 _"Running a scan now."_

Tony watches the screen with panicked eyes; the screen flips through several security cameras until finally stopping on an image of Buffy standing with Dawn on a clearly unstable tower 100's of feet off the ground _"She appears to be with her sister, the two are standing on top of a tower. From my calculations the tower is very unstable and could collapse very easily. She also seems to be directly above the source of the energy currently destroying the town."_

"Get me my suit now!" Tony yells as he stares at the image of his daughter, he could feel it in his bones, something horrible was about to happen and he needed to stop it.

* * *

Sunnydale, California

Dawn looks at Buffy sadly, her heart breaking at the idea of what was about to happen, but it needed to be done "Buffy, I know about the ritual. I have to stop it."

Buffy shakes her head, refusing to acknowledge to truth, she couldn't lost her sister, she had already lost her mom and so many people, she was supposed to protect her sister, she wasn't just going to let her die "No."

The towers shakes more violently causing them both to stumble slightly, once they balance themselves Dawn looks up at Buffy, tears in her eyes "I have to. Look at what's happening."

Buffy watches as a dragon rips itself free of the ball of energy before turning back to Dawn "Buffy, you have to let me go. Blood starts it, and until the blood stops slowing, it'll never stop. You know you have to let me. It has to have the blood."

Buffy stares at her sister before several thoughts come to her, making everything clear, for the first time in her life, the realisation of what needed to be done was dawning on her.

 _'Cause it's always got to be blood._

It's Summers' blood. It's just like mine. It doesn't matter that we have different fathers. We have the same mom. That's the Summers blood. It's you and me.

She's me. The monks made her out of me.

Death is your gift.  
Death—  
Is your gift.

Buffy is brought back to reality as she comes to a realisation of what she has to do next. She looks over at the edge of the tower and a sense of peace and understanding fills her. The sun hitting her as she accepts her fate, she was finally at peace with what was meant to be.

Buffy turns back to Dawn who was now staring at her with wide eyes as she realises what Buffy wants to do "Buffy, no."  
"Dawnie, I have to."  
"No!"

Buffy shakes her head trying to get through this "Dawn listen to me, please, there's not a lot of time. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. This is the work that I have to do. Tell Giles that—tell Giles that I figured it out. And—and I'm okay. And give my love to my friends. You have to take care of them now. You have to take care of each other. You have to be strong. And my dad—tell my dad that I love him and I'm sorry that I didn't tell him what was going on. I just didn't want to lose anyone else I love. Make sure he's okay, please." Buffy takes a shaky breath before continuing "Dawn, the hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live...for me."

Buffy smiles at her sister and places a kiss on her cheek before turning towards the edge of the tower.

* * *

Tony speeds through the Sunnydale sky in a panic as he continues desperately searching for Buffy "Where is she Jar?"

 _"Five miles north."_

Tony speeds ahead as fast as he can, his body vibrating violently in the suit but he ignores the pain as he spots the tower where he could currently see Buffy and Dawn.  
Tony frowns in confusion however his eyes widen as he sees Buffy running towards the edge "Nooooo!" He screams as he speeds full speed towards Buffy as she jumps into the ball of energy bellow.

As he finally reaches the energy ball it disappears and Tony ignores the water flooding his eyes as he spots his daughter falling through the air, speeding forward, he manages to catch Buffy in his arms before she could fall to the ground.

Tony stares in horror at the sight of his daughter, watching her he gulps as he realises that she wasn't breathing...which could only mean...

Tony shakes his head refusing to believe the truth as he lowers himself to the ground and rips off his mask, placing Buffy's head in his lap "Buffy? Hey kid? Come on you gotta get up." He says practically begging.

Tony places his hand on her neck, searching desperately for a pulse, praying that he was wrong, that she was fine. He needed her to be okay, he wouldn't survive without her "Jarvis check vitals."

 _"Sir."_  
"Jarvis! Check her vitals now!"  
 _"Sir, there is no pulse. I'm afraid she is gone."_

Tony shakes his head in disbelief as he stares down at his daughter, this couldn't be happening, he refused to believe this, it wasn't possible, his kid couldn't be gone "No, no you're not—not—you're not dead. You can't. "  
Tony clutches the girl to him as he weeps "Come on Buff, girl, I need you. You're my girl. Buffy! You're not dead!"

Tony falls apart clutching his daughter to him, begging her to come back.

* * *

Tony stares at the grave of his beloved daughter, the others had left hours ago but here he was still in disbelief that this was happening. He didn't know what to do, his daughter was dead, there was no way he was going to be able to know how to deal with this.

As his grief and misery consumes and merely continues to stare at the grave of the person he cared most about in this world.

"Buffy Anne Summers Stark, Beloved Daughter, sister. Devoted Friend. She saved the world a lot." Tony reads off her grave, smiling fondly at the words.

Tony crouches down by the grave; he places a hand on the headstone and let's a tear fall as the reality of this hits him, she gone and there was no bringing her back "I love you Buff." He says softly closing his eyes as the tears fall.

Slowly he places a bouquet of flowers on her grave before standing "Goodbye, Buffy."


	17. Avengers Assemble

Hey everyone part 3 of Buffy Summers: Code Name Slayer has been published.

And this time it's Avengers Assemble.


End file.
